In the Williamson County community of Whitetail Estates, residents have a mission -- having fire hydrants installed across the neighborhood.

“By the time the trucks get here and by the time the tankers get here, it's a total loss. That's what's very, very disturbing,” said Frank Hanson, resident.

The community doesn't have a public water system, and, during a house fire on Saturday, it became clear why they need one. Firefighters momentarily ran out of water.

“It's heartbreaking to some degree. We do whatever we can every time we come out here, but when you get where you run out of water very quickly you know that someone's going to have a tragic loss,” said Leander Deputy Fire Chief Bill Gardner.

The family's home is a total loss.

“The flames were just coming out. It was a ferocious fire,” said resident, Raquel Gonzales.

It was the second house in just seven months in Whitetail Estates to burn down.

“It's not that the fire departments didn't respond; they did. They came out and worked their job, but the problem is they didn't have the resources to effectively combat those fires,” said Hanson.

In both house fires, firefighters had to bring in water from hydrants in other neighborhoods. Some of those were still a good four to five miles away.

It's a problem families in Whitetail Estates don't want to worry about.

Since Whitetail Estates isn't within any city limits, the Williamson County Fire Chief's Association says it's up to the residents to foot any bill that comes with installing fire hydrants.

Neighborhood water board members say a resident survey collected in February showed a majority was fine with paying extra tax dollars if it meant getting a public water system.

“You want to be able to access water. It's just a comfort to know that there's going to be enough water to put out a fire like that,” said Gonzalez.

However, installing a system could cost several million dollars and most stopped shy of spending that much money.

Williamson County officials say there are more than 58,000 homes like the ones in Whitetail Estates that are in un-incorporated areas of the county. It's unclear how many of those areas are without fire hydrants too.