History Main / TelepathicSprinklers

* In ''Disney/MeetTheRobinsons'', Lewis' invention at the science fair, after being tampered with, sets off a chain of events that makes... a scale representation of Vesuvius explode, setting off all the sprinklers in the gym.
* In the dodgeball scene in ''Disney/ChickenLittle'', the title character is flung against a window and slides down, catching himself on the fire alarm pull station which activates and sets off the sprinklers in the gym.

** Crane, in the episode "Liar Liar", set off a sprinkler to interrupt a romantic moment between two people. Justified, since he was in the same room, behind a screen.
** There was another episode where he tried to empty out a theater by setting off the sprinklers. All he accomplishes is giving himself a shower, because only the one sprinkler is set off.

* In ''{{Film/Frequency}}'', Dennis Quaid's character does this to [[spoiler: divert attention from himself during his escape from the precinct where he was held in custody for a murder he didn't commit. He triggers the sprinkler in his interrogation room which then turns on all sprinklers on the floor.

* In ''{{Film/Frequency}}'', Dennis Quaid's character does this to [[spoiler: not attract attention to himself, when he escapes the precinct after electrocuting the villain who has [[FrameUp framed him]] for murders he didn't commit.]] He triggers the sprinkler in his interrogation room which then turns on all sprinklers on the floor.

* An odd example in ''Film/KindergartenCop'' where the fire alarm goes off, O'Hara checks the door and sees smoke slowly filling the empty hall, but no sprinklers. Cut to a moment later where kids screaming as they run towards the exits, all the sprinklers are going off, and the lights are showering sparks all over the place.

* In ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'' a mook holds a torch up to a sprinkler, causing all the sprinklers in the hallway to go off. Travis's [[strike:lightsaber]] beam katana isn't waterproof, so in results in a comedic electrocution, and a short detour to turn off the sprinklers.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' played this straight in "A Test Before Trying." To buy Bart more time to study for a vitally important test, Bart recommends Principal Skinner pull the fire alarm. As Skinner ponders this, the GoodAngelBadAngel trope comes into play, but the "devil" is his mother Agnes, whom claims "You wimp!" and activates the pull station, setting off the alarm (which is basically the same as the school bell) and all the sprinklers in the hallway, as the faculty and teachers evacuate through the showers.

[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sprinkler_7959.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:200:[[InstantIndexJustAddWater Instant Flood: Just Add Fire!]]]]

* In the movie ''Film/{{Constantine}}'', the title character does this, after having his assistant bless the water. Enter *bleep*-off smoking demon hordes.
* In ''Film/BruceAlmighty,'' Bruce uses the power of {{God}} to stop a party by activating the house's sprinkler system. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that the sprinklers are being set off by willful divine intervention, not a fire.

* In ''{{Film/Frequency}}'', Dennis Quaid's character does this to [[spoiler: not attract attention to himself, when he escapes his interrogation room after electrocuting the villain who has framed him for murders he didn't commit.]]

* In ''Film/VeronicaMars'', Veronica breaks up a BarBrawl by holding a lighter to one sprinkler head, which causes all the other sprinklers to go off except for the one directly over her.

* In ''Film/MeanGirls'' the headmaster stops a riot by setting off a single fire alarm and drenching everyone. This was particularly effective as 'everyone' was teenage girls who were worried about their hair. However, the sprinklers appeared to only come on in the corridor, not the rest of the school.

* In ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'', Bond is chasing a bomber through Miami International Airport when the bomber changes into a TSA uniform and turns a "sprinkler activation" key on an alarm panel, drenching the terminal. Justified as this was an emergency override function of the sprinkler system and not triggered by an actual smoke detector.
** Just starting a regular fire alarm would have worked exactly the same way and there was no reason at all to drench the whole place in water. It just looks more interesting than dry people leaving the building in an orderly fashion.
** Possibly justified in-universe by 007's sense of humour.

* In ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'', Bond is chasing a bomber through Miami International Airport when the bomber changes into a TSA uniform and turns a "sprinkler activation" key on an alarm panel, drenching the terminal. Justified as this was an emergency override and not triggered by an actual smoke detector.

* In ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'', Bond is chasing a bomber through Miami International Airport when the bomber changes into a TSA uniform and turns a "sprinkler activation" key on an alarm panel, drenching the terminal.

* In ''{{Film/Veronica Mars}}'', Veronica breaks up a BarBrawl by holding a lighter to one sprinkler head, which causes all the other sprinklers to go off except for the one directly over her.

* In ''{{Film/Veronica Mars}}'', Veronica breaks up a BarBrawl by holding a lighter to one sprinkler head.

* In ''{{Film/Veronica Mars}}'', Veronica breaks up a fight by holding a lighter to one sprinkler head.

** Amber "Cutthroat *bleep*" Volakis attempts this by blowing smoke from a cigarette on a sprinkler, [[ItMakesSenseInContext in an attempt to drench Dr. Cuddy with the intention of getting her thong]]. It doesn't work. So she uses the lighter directly, and sure enough the sprinklers in the entire sector go off.

** Crane, in the episode "Liar Liar", set off a sprinkler to interrupt a romantic moment between two people. Justified, since he was in the same room, behind a screen. Watching him emerge, soaking wet, a triumphant smile on his face? One of the funniest moments in the show. This instance seemed to only apply to the apartment itself, as the hallway didn't show water spraying.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/TheSims2'' (and probably the other two, but I can't speak for those). Chances are, you're only going to have one sprinkler in the house to begin with, in the kitchen, where there's more danger of fire; but if you do have more than one (likely by the fireplace or the grill if it's covered), only the one in a position to put out the fire goes off. And really annoying in the college expansion when that *bleep* cow decides to be funny and set it off.

Also, while sprinklers in media spray little bits of clear water, a real sprinkler system--which typically sits for years without use and which is designed to put out or stop the spread of fires as fast as possible--dumps between twenty and one hundred gallons (80-400 liters) of filthy, stagnant water per sprinkler per minute. Not exactly the best way to spend your day. Compare that to a simple shower, which puts out about one-and-a-half to two gallons (six to eight liters) per minute.

In the real world, only some sprinkler systems work like this--usually in buildings with a very high fire risk. While some neighboring sprinklers could go off due to the water hammer effect, most modern systems use sprinkler heads that have their own individual trigger (usually a glass tube that breaks when it gets too hot, or in older systems a lead slug that melts at a low temperature), thus limiting the water delivery only to the location of the fire. There are two simple reasons: 1) Where cisterns are used, the amount of water available to put out the fire is limited, so naturally you want as much of that water as possible to go where it will do the best job putting out the fire before the cistern runs dry and 2) Spraying water on things tends to damage them, so you only want to do that where it's truly necessary. Where sprinklers are connected directly to the main water supply, if they all went off simultaneously there wouldn't be enough pressure for the system to work adequately without much larger and more expensive pipes throughout the entire building. Additionally, activating the fire alarm system (via a pull station or smoke/heat detector) will not trip a sprinkler system, although sprinkler systems can trip a fire alarm system if they are interconnected with each other (and they usually are).

* The protagonist of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UejWmvx1hR0 this]] ''Website/CollegeHumor'' clip accidentally trips the sprinkler system in the bathroom of his school which kicks off all sprinklers on the floor.

* The player has to make use of this in ''VideoGame/SpaceQuest 2'', [[spoiler: with the classic 'wastebasket full of paper' method.]]

* In the movie ''Film/{{Accepted}}'' during the big party scene, one of TheRival school members pulls the fire alarm. For some reason instead of releasing a siren and alerting the fire department (possibly because the place was actually a condemned mental asylum they had given a MontageMakeover), all this does is turn on the sprinkler systems and causes everyone to start dancing in the rain.