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No close hydrants to fight Odessa mansion fire

Posted at 5:07 PM, Apr 21, 2016
and last updated 2016-04-22 01:07:31-04

An Odessa home is a complete loss after it burned for more than an hour because fire crews had a hard time getting water on the fire.

A 98-year-old woman and her son were able to make it out of the home alive, but they were transported and released from a nearby hospital. 

The 6,000 square foot home is in a part of Hillsborough County without nearby fire hydrants because the area depends on a water well.

According to Hillsborough county officials, one-third of the county is not on public water lines that supply hydrants. 

The fire department trains in rural areas to know where the closest hydrants are to bring in tanks of waters for emergencies.

As Hillsborough County expands with new subdivisions, developers are responsible for mapping out where they will put in water lines that will give access to safety measures, like hydrants. 

Robert Ford of Keystone has lived with water wells his whole life and knows it can be a risk, but one that has never come up, "I've been here so long, I never thought about that."