Five minutes into first period, smoke from the Advanced Placement Chemistry classroom set off a fire alarm Tuesday morning, according to Assistant Principal Jerry Berkson.

Students in the chemistry classroom had just started heating Bunsen burners for their final lab practicum, when the alarm went off. In a quick but confusing manner, students and faculty gathered on the soccer field facing El Camino Real because of turf construction on the Paly football field next to the train tracks.

“The only reason I knew to go to the other field was that everyone else was going that way,” junior Maria Poggio said. “I just followed the crowd.”

Students doing the lab said they were not aware that their classroom was the source of the alarm.

“I didn’t even know it was us,” senior Amy Xu said. “The fume hood didn’t go down.”

The fire alarm disrupted students as they began the lab procedure.

“I was annoyed because I wanted to finish my lab,” Xu said.

Junior Daniel Zeugfang said that he did not see any smoke and was surprised that the alarm was set off.

“It smelled a bit because we were using ashless filter paper,” Zeugfang said.

Multimedia editor Anna Bastidas and Editor-in-Chief Connie Yang contributed to this story.