San Francisco firefighters responded to a fire alarm set off by a overheated motor on the 8th floor of Thornton Hall Thursday.

Smoke from mechanical room 800T set off the alarm at 11:52 a.m. on the 7th and 8th floors, said University Spokeswoman Ellen Griffin.

"There was no fire, a motor just overheated," said San Francisco firefighter Evart.

Evart explained that protective insulation around the vacuum pump motor caused the smoke to release.

Smoke from the overheated motor prompted 20 San Francisco firefighters to evacuate the building for 15 minutes, said Evart. "Once we learned that it was contained to the 8th floor, we let people back in to the building," he said.

Upon witnessing the smoke, an engineer shut the engine to the smoking motor off, said Evart.

Firefighters used C2O gas to cool the motor, said Evart, noting that the gas would not harm the motor.

Despite the information provided from the fire department, an engineer is currently examining what may have caused the alarms to go off, added Griffin.