"To date, we have yet to have vehicles with ladders," said Depok Fire and Rescue Agency head Yayan Arianto as quoted by kompas.com on Friday. 

Such equipment is needed to tackle fires in more than 15-meter high buildings, he said. 

Depok, hence, has allocated an estimated Rp 30 billion (US$2.2 million) per unit in the 2018 city budget for the procurement of ladder-equipped firetrucks.

"Insya Allah [God's willing] in 2018, we can buy a stair-equipped vehicle unit," Yayan said at Cinere Bellevue Mall, which is integrated with a 20-story apartment building, on Thursday evening.

The mall under the apartment caught fire on Wednesday evening and was extinguished on Thursday morning. 

Although the fire did not reach the building's higher levels, apartment residents were trapped in the emergency exit areas due to thick smoke. 

They were eventually rescued by firefighters who used turntable ladders provided by the Jakarta Fire and Rescue Agency. (agn) 

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