SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- An inoperable elevator meant it took the Syracuse Fire Department nearly 40 minutes to put out a fire in a high-rise downtown apartment this afternoon.

The Syracuse Fire Department rushed to the Clinton Plaza Apartments at 550 S. Clinton St. at 1:05 p.m. Tuesday after a fire was reported in a one-room studio apartment on the 19th floor, fire officials said.

The building's elevators were not working when firefighters arrived, said Elton Davis, a Syracuse Fire Department deputy chief. They don't know if the elevators stopped working as a safety mechanism that went off when the building's alarms went off or if the elevators were broken.

Because the fire truck ladder wouldn't have reached the 19th floor, firefighters had to walk up the stairs in full gear, carrying hoses and air tanks, Davis said.

That was the main reason it took firefighters about 40 minutes to extinguish the fire, he said.

Residents trying to get out themselves had to take the stairs.

Jeff and Nika Warwick-Casey said they walked down 15 flights of stairs with their three children, ages 3, 2, and 11 months, to get out when they heard the building's alarms going off and saw the trucks pulling up outside.

Davis said they often have residents shelter in place during high-rise fires.

"Sometimes that's safer so they're not out in the hallway with the smoke, or trying to get down the stairs while we're trying to go up," he said.

There were no reported injuries, and the apartment was empty when firefighters arrived, Davis said.

Firefighters are still investigating the cause of the fire, and are unsure what damage the apartment and surrounding floors sustained.