In less than 24 hours, the number of firefighters on the job in the Wingham area fell from 42 to one.

Thursday night, North Huron Township’s two deputy fire chiefs and eight fire captains resigned. They were soon joined by the township’s entire volunteer firefighter complement.

The firefighters who resigned say they have concerns about the direction senior leaders were taking the fire department.

“We have to be treated with respect, and our voice needs to be heard,” resigned captain Jeff Howson said in an interview.

“North Huron needs to take it seriously, and we just don’t feel that they are.”

The township’s fire chief resigned last week, after nine months on the job. An interim chief was appointed Thursday night, at which point all other firefighters resigned.

Neil Vincent, the reeve of North Huron, describes the issue as “a breakdown in communication” between the township and its firefighters.

“We have fabulous firefighters that do a great job,” he said Friday.

“We’ll just have to work and try to do what repairs we can to that (relationship).”

Until a solution is reached, arrangements have been made to have firefighters from South Bruce and Central Huron respond to emergencies in North Huron – a move which will cause a significant increase in response times.

With files from CTV London