A damaged pipe caused a false fire alarm at Sumner High School today, leading East Pierce Fire & Rescue firefighters to respond.

The high school was unoccupied due to a snow day.

The pipe was part of the campus fire sprinkler system. Sprinkler systems are designed to set off an alarm when the pipes lose water pressure due to flow—a situation normally caused by a fire’s heat breaking the thermometer plugs in sprinkler heads. In this case, water flow was caused by damage to the pipe.

The extent of the pipe damage is unknown at this time.