Growing up behind the former Lakeside Volunteer Fire Department, Ed Hughes heard plenty of sirens, but rarely from an ambulance.

“A lot of times, if you got sick or something, people would carry you to the hospital in a car,” sometimes in hearses, Hughes said. “They didn’t have ambulances.”

That changed in 1958, when the Lakeside Volunteer Rescue Squad was established. Hughes, 70, is the Lakeside squad’s longest-serving active member, with 26 years of service.

“I like what I do. I feel like I’m doing something for somebody,” Hughes said.

To mark its 50th anniversary, the Lakeside Volunteer Rescue Squad plans to throw a community celebration Aug. 16-17, said its president, Tracy Giddens-Jarrett. By supporting the squad’s twice-yearly fundraising campaigns and volunteering, the community has made free, 24-hour emergency medical care possible, she said.

“We like providing care to everybody — the same kind of care no matter whether they can pay or not,” Giddens-Jarrett said. “There’s really a sense of satisfaction.”