Meaning of XLC & XLE for Downey & Verdugo

[code6]

Could someone please explain the meaning of these terms in RRDB. I believe it has to due with area C & E
but don't know what the X & L stands for.
Thanks for any input.

 

[Duster]

Could someone please explain the meaning of these terms in RRDB. I believe it has to due with area C & E
but don't know what the X & L stands for.
Thanks for any input.

Those are OES (EMA for a few more days) Fire-Rescue Operational Area identifiers.

Most counties in California have one identifier. They begin with "X" and have two more letters to identify the county (i.e. XPL for Placer, XSA for Sacramento, XST for Stanislaus). LA County is divided up into 5 (or maybe 6) "sub" Op Areas, lettered "A-E" (or "F"). Therefore, XLC is LA County Operational Area "C", and LAE is LA County Operational Area "E".

 

[Kingscup]

Every fire department in California is given a 3 letter designation which is mostly used on strike teams. Since strike teams consist of 5 engines (there are other types of strike teams but I won't get into that), most departments can't send 5 engines out of their city. Some county fire departments can send 5 engines on strike assignments so they used their 3 digit identifier.

LAC- Los Angeles County
RVC- Riverside County
ORC- Orange County

Smaller fire departments will use 1 or 2 of their engines to form up a strike team with other small cities. So you can have a strike team with 5 engines all from different cities within a county. They are given an X designation. The L would mean they are from Los Angeles county and then the E or C designation. Riverside County would be XRI. Orange County would be XOR etc.....

 

[LAflyer]

Without getting too deep into the details, Los Angeles County is broken into operating areas.

In simple terms without listing every single city, the areas are as follows:

XLA = Westside cities (Beverly Hills, Culver City, Santa Monica)
XLC = Verdugo cities
XLE = Downey cities
XLF = Long Beach
XLG = South Bay cities

Over time as some of these areas have unified radio communications, the naming nomenclature has been adopted to utilize this naming convention as well. This is seen with Verdugo and Downey using their XLC and XLE assignments for frequency numbering.

 

[Markb]

the document "MACS 410-2" located here:

FIRESCOPE Documents : Read Documents

lays out the whole thing. .....

 

[SCPD]

The areas referenced are a subdivision of Cal EMA (soon to be OES again as of 7/1/13) California Mutual Aid Region 1. A map of these is helpful. On page 47 of the following document is a map and list of cities in each of these areas.

http://www.torranceca.gov/TPD/Documents/UPDATED_08.31.10_-_COT_EOP_Executive_Summary.pdf

I found some mutual aid information for Arizona recently showing an organizational structure being implemented there that is very similar to that of California. Arizona's Department of Emergency Management is not very big and does not have the influence of CAL EMA (OES). I think there is a statewide council of fire chief's that steps in to do much of the work that OES does in California. Arizona is also putting a "X" at the beginning of their 3 letter agency designators. I remember a few other states doing the same, but fuzzy memory prevents me from confirming this.