The University of Wisconsin School of Business was evacuated Monday afternoon following a false fire alarm.

Julie Tran, associate student services coordinator in School of Business Dean Michael Knetter’s office, confirmed the evacuation was a false alarm. There was no smoke or fire, and there was no damage to the building, she said.

“We do have a lot of dust in the building because of the construction in Grainger, so that might have triggered the alarm,” Tran said.

The recently completed construction at Grainger has required multiple tests of the fire alarm system, and it has led to several false alarms.

“We’ve had fire drills and some false alarms as well, just because with the new addition and the new fire alarms they tend to test the sensitivity,” Tran said.

Students and staff were allowed back in after about 10 minutes, Tran said. The exact cause of the false alarm is unknown, but a UW electrician was investigating the issue Monday.

UW sophomore Brandon Winikates was in Grainger’s library when alarms started ringing and a voice came over the loudspeaker ordering everybody to evacuate.

Winikates said students were unsure if it was just a fire alarm or something else that led to confusion and an “absurd” panic.

“Everybody was wondering if somebody killed themselves because of the failure of the bailout plan,” Winikates said. “That’s what people were saying might have happened. People were really panicked.”

UW police responded and the Madison Fire Department helped evacuate the building.

Winikates went on to say that as people began to crowd back into Grainger, a “strange” man began yelling.

“There was a bum who came in,” Winikates said. “He was just screaming absurdities at the top of his lungs.”

Students were listening to him until the man left on his own accord, Winikates said.

The UW Police Department officer who responded to the alarm was not available for comment Monday afternoon.