A small town in Monroe County is making things difficult for surrounding areas to battle fires. The Madisonville Board of Alderman has given orders that there will be no more free water from the city used to fight fires in the county. According to the city’s gas and water “liaison” Susan Saunders, the county gives each department $8000 annually with all volunteer fire departments having access to city hydrants. Before, any dept. using city water would pay for that used and also pay for filling up a tanker prior to a fire. She says VFD’s were sent a reminder letter in June to pay for water. Saunders says by August, no one was paying and that the service is being abused for things such as filling up swimming pools. City Fire-Rescue Chief John Tallent was directed to take up all hydrant wrenches from all VFD’s and procedures have been put in place that require a phone call for a city firefighter to meet crews at a designated hydrant and that water used by the department would have to be paid for at City Hall. It was also made clear that all protocols would be met including during a fire emergency.