The fire alarm went off unexpectedly for the second time in one week Oct. 14 due to a drop in the sprinkler system’s water pressure, forcing students and staff to exit the building during fifth period.

“A drop in water pressure causes the fire alarm to go off because if there is no water available to put out a fire, then it is dangerous for people to be in the building,” principal Alan Goodwin said.

An MCPS contractor visited Oct. 17 to assess the problem stating that the low water pressure may be due to an issue in the street pipe system. By adjusting a valve, future faulty alarms should be prevented, Goodwin said.

On most sprinkler systems, when the pressure drops, there is a set period of time that is allowed for it to build up again before the alarm goes off—usually 90 seconds. In the part of the school where the alarm was triggered, only 30 seconds were allotted for the pressure to rebuild before setting off the alarm, Goodwin said.

“It didn’t have a chance to have the water pressure build back up before the alarm went off,” Goodwin said. “If it doesn’t, it means that there is a leak somewhere in the system.”

Kevin Walsh, construction supervisor of Alarm Tech Solutions, the company that replaced the entire alarm system over the summer, came to evaluate the system Oct. 19, confirming that the sensitivity was corrected.

Hopefully, the system won’t have any other false alarms; many students have become annoyed with the repetitive classroom disturbances.

“It’s pretty disruptive and just sort of annoying to have to stop class and walk outside especially when everyone knows it’s a fluke and not a real drill,” junior Emma Forde said.