KILLIAN — A deadly fire has neighbors in Livingston Parish criticizing what they say is a lack of protection and believe the tragedy could have been prevented.

Despite the burned home sitting on a riverbank, surrounded by water, neighbors say crews struggled to extinguish flames with faulty fire hydrants.

Charred wooden shutters and melted plastic siding offered a glimpse of the raging heat that marred a family home in Killian, and neighbor Darren Burns says he’ll never forget Saturday's experience, waking to flames consuming the house next to his own. Burns says without a second thought he reacted, running next door in an attempt to save lives.

"I was beating on the side of the house with my fist, pounding it," Burns said.

The Office of the State Fire Marshall’s Office took over the investigation from the Livingston Fire District 2 and said two siblings had died in the fire.

As neighbors waited nearly 20 minutes for help to arrive, Burns said he tried to use a water hose attached to the burning house, but it didn’t work. When a fire truck arrived, Burns said the hydrant located across the street was unable to dampen the flames, and minutes later another crew arrived by boat to supply water to the truck crew.

In an attempt to learn more about what neighbors say went wrong, WBRZ called and visited the Livingston Fire District 2, but the fire chief was unavailable to answer questions.

A source within the Livingston Parish Government, who was not authorized to speak about the investigation, says the hydrants are privately owned and have low water pressure.

Burns says he wants answers about why life-saving systems seemed to fail.

“We learned the hard way that we have no fire coverage in our neighborhood, in Killian,” Burns said.