Hardwired smoke detectors are usually wired to a central

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siren. If ANY of them sense a fire the siren will go off. Pulling just that one won't shut down the rest of them and it's likely one of the other sensors tripped.

Yes, they have a life span and 5 years is about right. After that they can go off for no known reason.

Smoke sensors don't sense smoke, they sense a change in light levels within the sensor. Dust, dirt, smoke, steam, or just a bad sensor can set them off.

It can't hurt to vacuum out each sensor to clean out dust and dirt but it's possible that all of the sensors are getting unstable. Replacing one won't stop the rest of the system from tripping. The alarm siren is over the bedrooms with the assumption that you will be sleeping through a fire. That way even a fire in the basement will wake you up. You should have toured the house to find out which sensor went off becuase it's certainly possible you could have had a REAL fire.

As it is, consider buying new sensors, one at a time if you have to, but preferably the whole set at once. It's better to have 5 false alarms than to have one real one you never heard.