Alcatraz Opens for Business Again

Things are back to normal Monday at Alcatraz Island after a  malfunctioning fire alarm caused the evacuation of more than 1,000 tourists  from the island Sunday afternoon, a National Park Service spokeswoman said.
   
Tours of the former prison started again at 9 a.m. Monday. The site  is operated by the park service, spokeswoman Alexandra Picavet said.

About 1,100 people were on the island when a fire alarm went off  at about 1:30 p.m. Sunday. There was no fire but the faulty alarm, located in  an elevator shaft, "was malfunctioning to the point that we could not reset  it," Picavet said.

Since a working fire alarm is required to allow visitors to the  island, the tourists had their trips cut short and had to leave, she said.

All other trips later that afternoon were also canceled, said  Tegan Firth, spokeswoman for Alcatraz Cruises.

Everyone who had their trips cut short or canceled received  refunds, Firth said.