LEWISTON – A Bates College student and a visitor face arson charges in connection with a daytime fire Thursday near a pond on the liberal arts campus in Lewiston.

An investigator said the suspects found a canister of gasoline, poured it on the pavement and set it ablaze, igniting a pile of mulch. No one was injured in the fire and a college spokesman said the loss was negligible.

Arrested soon after the fire were Edmund Antell of Sherborn, Mass., a 19-year-old Bates freshman and track team member, and Kyle Pickard, also 19, who had been visiting Antell at the school.

A woman who answered the phone at Antell’s home Saturday said he did not want to comment.