- NEW: All 139 have been rescued, a fire spokesman says
- A wreck caused a backup and snow inundated a mountain highway near Los Angeles
- San Bernardino firefighters drove up in three tank-like vehicles to get them
- Elsewhere in the same mountain range, snow trapped at least another 25 motorists
(CNN) -- It beats sleeping in your car at temperatures in the teens -- maybe lower.
Motorists snowed in on a mountain pass near Los Angeles will wake up Wednesday in a church shelter after fire rescuers ferried all 139 of them down in three snowcat vehicles overnight.
They had gotten stuck near the town of Crestline, when a wreck blocked the road, and snow piled in on top of them, San Bernardino County Fire Chief Mark Hartwig said. Some of them pulled out their phones and called for help.
Cell phone pictures posted to Twitter showed vehicles that had slid off the road.
The road I live on in Crestline. #ABC7Eyewitness http://ift.tt/1tnSdIM
— Llama (@rypeskater12112) December 31, 2014 The all-weather, all-terrain snowcats, which have tank treads, trudged up the highway, the fire department said on its Twitter account. Then they took the motorists down to a local church.
Rescuers plan to help motorists recover their vehicles Thursday.
Elsewhere in the San Bernardino Mountains, snow caught at least 25 motorists in their cars. They were also being rescued and taken to a shelter, fire officials said.
Hwy 138 (update): Count Fire Crews use Snow-Cats to rescue stranded motorists http://ift.tt/1tnSdIQ
— SB County Fire (@SBCOUNTYFIRE) December 31, 2014 .
CNN's Tina Burnside and Lorenza Brascia contributed to this report.
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