Residents of a Nova Scotia town are expressing sadness and outrage after nearly 100 unique firefighter memorials were stolen from dozens of graves at a cemetery.

The ladder memorials have been placed on the graves of volunteer firefighters at the Brookside Cemetery in Bridgewater since the 1800s.

The ladders have a broken rung, are made of brass, and honour the men and women who have served the community.

“The broken rung means that they have served their time, and it’s now ready for them to take a rest and sit back,” explains Bridgewater Fire Chief Michael Nauss.

The memorials have been placed on about 200 graves, but 98 ladders have disappeared over the past week, including the one on Ellison Whynot’s grave.

Reid Whynot says his father was a volunteer firefighter for more than 25 years and he can’t believe someone would steal a memorial from his grave.

He wants to see the memorials returned and hopes whoever took them understands the ladders symbolize years of hard work.

“It’s terrible. It’s really disgusting,” says Whynot. “It’s all they have for what service they did for their community. That’s the only reminder.”

Bridgewater Mayor David Mitchell says it’s especially disheartening as the thefts coincide with a difficult anniversary for the local fire department.

“It was just a couple of days ago that we had the one-year anniversary of the large fire we had on King Street, so to have this happen around that time when we’re remembering what our fire department had to go through, it’s especially disappointing,” says Mitchell.

Police say several ladders have been found along a trail in the community, but so far there are no leads in the case.

“It’s pretty disappointing to see that someone, whether it’s within our community or one of the outskirt communities, would have the nerve, I guess, to take something like this,” says Bridgewater Police Const. James Creaser. “It has a lot of meaning to the families.”

Nauss says he doesn’t care who took the ladders or why. He simply wants to see them returned to the cemetery.

“We’re not blaming anybody for taking them, but if they did see them, or have any idea where they might have gone, please report it to either the fire department or the police department,” he says.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Suzette Belliveau