PORTLAND, Ore. -- A Portland State University student was arrested Monday morning for trying to burn down a campus dormitory.

Fire crews were called to St. Helens Court just before 4:30 a.m. to find a pile of bundled newspapers and phonebooks that had been burned in a stairwell. Students managed to put out the fire by the time crews got there, Lieutenant Allen Oswalt said.

Multnomah County

The building had filled with smoke, activating the alarms.

Witnesses led investigators to student Paul Rowley, who was arrested for first-degree arson.

Firefighters said the doors to the stairwells had been propped open -- but those doors were usually used as fire blocks to slow smoke and flames from spreading between floors.

There were no reports of injuries.