Sakura Japanese restaurant in Silver Spring Township is temporarily closed following a small fire.

A sign posted on the restaurant’s front door at 6499 Carlisle Pike notifies diners of the closure. The owners could not be reached for comment.

Silver Spring Community Fire Company Chief Benjamin McDonald said the fire broke out early in the morning of Nov. 5. Crews didn’t have to rush to the scene, though, because the sprinkler system had extinguished the fire, he said.

The problem was that the alarm system was not set up to notify the 911 center, and the sprinklers kept going over night, causing a lot of water damage to the business. An employee noticed it when they came in the next morning.

McDonald said the fire was likely caused by a hot pan being placed on a shelf.

While there is a lot of water damage, it is repairable, he said. He estimated it’s $50,000 worth of damage, but said that was just a rough figure.

The chief said sprinkler systems definitely work and prevented this fire from spreading through the restaurant and into neighboring businesses in the plaza. But there is a lesson to be learned.

“Make sure your alarm system calls the proper authorities,” he said. “In this case, it sounded like it tried to call the contact numbers for business, but never called the 911 center to alert the fire department of issue.”

Sakura opened in 2011 and specializes in sushi, hibachi and teriyaki.