The founding members of the Lakeside QRU had a vision and little else when they formed the Upper West Shore Quick Response Unit in 1981. Without an office or garage they responded to dispatched emergencies from their homes and work places until the Somers Fire District offered to share their station in Lakeside. A few years later an addition was built on this fire hall to provide a garage bay and meeting room. As the QRU grew the first used Chevy Suburban and later the 1992 van style ambulance were housed in the small garage. Finally in 2006 the first full sized ambulance was acquired and it wouldn’t fit in the garage. The QRU had out grown the Somers Fire District satellite station in Lakeside.
The Baldy Mountain fire just west of Lakeside in July, 2009 drove the point home. The Interagency Fire Management Team moved into the fire station and all the fire trucks and the ambulance had to move out. It looked like the community had out grown the fire station as well. When public meetings and workshops began on the Lakeside Neighborhood Plan in 2009 and the meetings moved from committee member’s homes, to the Lakeside Chapel, to the West Shore Community Library, to the Water and Sewer District Office it was obvious Lakeside needed a public meeting place just as badly as the QRU needed a new ambulance hall.
In December 2009, Al and Cora Luna, long time residents of Lakeside, generously donated a 2 acre lot to the Lakeside QRU for the new Ambulance Hall. This property and the financial donations received from the community allowed construction of the new building to begin in April 2010.
A community project of this magnitude was daunting, however the determination of the QRU leadership, Members and the entire west shore community made this dream a reality and in 2011 the Lakeside QRU moved into their new home and the Community had a meeting hall.
The 9,400 square foot two-story building has three ambulance bays, a main office, storage, a serving kitchen, an exercise area, living quarters and a 182-seat meeting room. The community room is available for public and private meetings or events. The property also has a permanent landing site for the ALERT helicopter which is appropriately named “Luna’s Landing”
