The Steelers had a rude, albeit brief, awakening on Sunday.
A fire alarm was pulled early Sunday morning at the Steelers' team hotel in Boston, but the team downplayed the incident, saying none of the players or coaches had to evacuate their rooms.
Burt Lauten, the Steelers' Director of Communications, told NFL Network's Aditi Kinkhabwala that quiet was restored within minutes of the alarm sounding.
A Boston Fire Dept. spokesperson told NFL.com that the fire alarm at the Hilton Boston Logan Airport Hotel was pulled at 3:40 a.m. EST. When firefighters arrived, they determined it was a false alarm and cleared the scene "pretty quickly."
Massachusetts State Police said they arrested a suspect a short time later.
"Further investigation revealed that a Dennis Harrison, 25, of East Boston, who was found walking on the hotel property, had activated a pull alarm," police said in a statement provided to NFL.com. "Harrison was not a guest at the hotel and had no legitimate reason to be on the hotel property. Troopers charged Harrison with disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, and setting off a false fire alarm."
Luckily for the Steelers, the AFC Championship Game doesn't start until 6:40 p.m. EST, more than enough time to make up for the team's interrupted slumber. Still, it's far from an ideal situation for the team heading into its biggest game of the season.
A similar incident happened in the 2015 regular season to the Panthers, when a fire alarm was pulled at their hotel in Seattle around 5:30 a.m., less than eight hours before kickoff. The Panthers overcame it, however, by defeating the Seahawks 27-23.
The weirdness ensued in Boston later on Sunday morning, as NFL Network's Kimberly Jones reported that a sprinkler went off in the concession area at Gillette Stadium, which led to a partial evacuation.
