HUNDREDS of pupils were evacuated from Ashburton’s South Dartmoor Community College this afternoon after a burning smell was detected in a basement.

Three fire crews - from the town, Bovey Tracey and Buckfastleigh - rushed to the Balland Lane school after the 999 call was received just after 1pm.

Firefighters wearing breathing gear found the source of the stink to be an overheating boiler pump which was giving off smoke.

Electrics were isolated and electricians were called to the site to fix the fault.

As many as 1,000 pupils spent half the afternoon on playing fields while the fire crews dealt with the drama.

A fire spokesman said: ‘There had been a strong smell of burning, although there were no visible flames - just a little bit of smoke.’

He said it appeared the pump had been over-exerting itself in the school basement.

It took crews several minutes to find the source of the problem and deal with it without the need for switching on their hoses.

‘Staff had evacuated the school by the time we got there. There must have been a good 800 or so pupils waiting on the artifical-turf pitch while we dealt with the matter,’ explained the spokesman.

A thermal imaging camera was also used to make sure the problem had been sorted out.

A fan was used to clear the smell from the basement.

The incident was attended by an operational assurance officer from Torquay.

Crews left the site just before 3pm.