SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY — Ever since California became a state, a large portion of western San Joaquin County has been unprotected if a fire were to break out.

The area sits just north of Tracy, west of Stockton, and Highway 4 runs right through it.

CBS Sacramento started asking questions in mid-April when a fire broke out, and when we called around looking for information, we kept getting dead ends. It turned out that the California Highway Patrol was in charge.

The area is only covered by the CHP and the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office, and if there is a need for a fire response, those agencies would have to call in an outside fire department for help.

One of those fire departments would be the Waterloo-Morada Fire District. Eric Walder is the chief of the district and a former president of the Fire District Associations of California. He said that specific area of San Joaquin County, in terms of fire response, is a no man's land.

The vast majority of the land is used for agriculture. There are about 500 private properties within this unprotected land.

Chief Walder said that if the nearby outside agencies respond to every call, it leaves not only their actual service area vulnerable but also their budgets.

"Over the years with no reciprocal response," he said. "The people you work for are starting to fund that response, and over time, it becomes a burden and a liability for the agencies that are responding out there."

With the cost of equipment and wages going up, reimbursements for responding out there haven't, leaving agencies like Walder's second-guessing.

"Is that the best thing for your citizens and the taxpayers?" he said. "You have to think of all of those things as a fire chief, if you're going to respond or not."

Though there are still emergency services like the sheriff's office and the CHP, they run into their issues out here, too.

"We respond out there knowing we're not going to get a fire response," said CHP Stockton spokesperson Officer Angel Arceo.

Just two weeks ago, there was a small two-acre fire in that unprotected area near Tracy Boulevard, but no fire agencies responded.

"So we're out there for a few hours, basically letting the fire burn," Arceo said. "We have officers out there at the scene, which takes officers away from their patrol area."

Why is the area unprotected by fire departments?

The county says it's been that way for as long as they can remember.

Since California has no legal right to fire protection, it's up to the property owners in this area to say they want it or need it, then pay for it, and that hasn't happened yet.

"Out where there is very sparse population, there was never really any traction or no need to do it," J.D. Hightower said.

Hightower is with the Local Agency Formation Coalition, or LAFCo, which makes sure the county is spending taxpayer money responsibly.

"But how do you finance it? Yes, they could, but how do you finance it?" he questioned. "Because every dollar you're taking and putting it out there, you're taking it from somewhere else."

So what do firefighters need not to second-guess?

"If there was just some mechanism in place for reimbursement," Chief Walder said, "I know it would be easier for agencies in our county to go."

The county sends out a poll every few years to gauge interest from the property owners in whether they want fire protection or not.

The last time they did one was 2017. Almost 60% of property owners said they were interested. It needed 66% to move forward.

On what those people could do if they want to get the fire protection now, LAFCo told CBS13 they are going to send out another poll and see where the interest lies.