Hundreds of students and staff at the University of Manitoba were ordered to leave the campus Saturday after a fire broke out in one of the buildings.

Police evacuated the St. John's College building along with several others and closed all roads leading to the campus.

Thick smoke could be seen pouring from the upper floors of the Duff Roblin building, which houses the university's Psychology Department and zoology labs.

Const. Jason Michalyshen, a police spokesman, said emergency officials ordered people to leave the area just after noon because the fire appeared to be "significant."

Firefighters weren't taking any chances because of the possibility of asbestos burning in the building and requested an inventory of any chemicals stored in the labs.

"We had 250 chemicals of various quantities," said firefighter Bill Clark. "We don't know the names. Our hazmat crews were here and they did some identification of the products."

Stephen Sumka, a fire platoon chief, said by mid-afternoon, firefighters had the blaze under control and by 3:30 p.m. it was out.

Sumka said about 80 firefighters worked at putting out the fire, which was confined to the Duff Roblin building.

No one was injured in the blaze and by 3:30 fire crews had the fire out. Officials say the building was empty when the fire broke out. There is no word yet on how it started.

Dozens of elementary school students who had been attending a day camp at the campus were also evacuated, and some of their parents had to wait an hour to find out where they had been taken.

"Panic, frustration," parent Leila Spiers told CTV Winnipeg in describing her feelings. "The nerves kick in, you get a little worried. He's only 10, my son."

Eventually police let parents through to pick-up their children who ended up waiting on campus at the Max Bell Centre.

Off-duty firefighters were called in to help cover other areas of the city, while dozens of their colleagues battled the fire on the university campus.

Damage to the building appeared to be extensive, Sumka said.

According to the University of Manitoba website, the campus building was named after the province's former premier and also houses a zoology museum.

With files from the Canadian Press