The fire alarm ringing at the Sultanah Aminah Hospital this afternoon caused a wave of momentary panic among those present at the site.

Witnesses claimed a fire occurred at the Operation Theatre 5 in the hospital's main building, with smoke seen emanating from the first floor.

The building's fire alarm was triggered around 1.40pm. Ten minutes later, a team of eight personnel from the Johor Bahru Fire and Rescue Department arrived.

However, the police subsequently clarified that no actual fire took place.

Johor Bahru Selatan district police chief, ACP Sulaiman Salleh said the alarm was triggered by an electrical spark during the clean-up operation.

"The most likely possibility is, some water from the cleaning works had touched the power lines. But there was no explosion and nobody got hurt.

"There were only sparks of fire," he told reporters at the site today.

He urged the public to not make any speculations on the matter.

Nevertheless, Sulaiman said as a precaution, the hospital's main building has been emptied and cleaning works halted.

All power lines in the building have also been turned off.