Students and faculty were evacuated from the Liberal Arts building after smoke was detected in the building around two o’clock on Wednesday .

Inside the elevator maintenance room, some equipment started to release smoke, according to campus police Chief Richard Bukowiecki.

Campus police was alerted by the alarm system that identified the maintenance room as the source of the smoke.

“The fire alarm system is very sophisticated, ” Bukowiecki said, “so it told us it was detecting 40 percent of smoke in the room.”

“We could see that the smoke was dissipating, but of course we respond immediately to make sure there’s no fire to go along with the smoke.”

The fire department was on campus briefly before confirming that there was no danger to students, who were allowed to return to the building around ten minutes after the initial evacuation.

Psychology major, Daniel Radillo, was taking a midterm in the building when the alarm went off.

Radillo said that most students were surprised since this was not something that usually happened at Cerritos College, but that the evacuation went smoothly.

“Overall I think it was calm,” Radillo said. “(It) was nothing major.”