Firefighters are digging out Southern California towns that were buried in snow after record-breaking storms slammed the San Bernardino mountains in February. (Video: Erin Patrick O’Connor, Jorge Ribas/The Washington Post, Photo: Photo by Philip Cheung/The Washington Post)

Officials in hard-hit San Bernadino County are acknowledging they were not prepared for the winter weather

CRESTLINE, Calif. — Capt. Jared Newcomer and his crew were exhausted. Emergency calls from residents stuck in their homes were stacking up. And his crew’s usual firetrucks couldn’t make it through streets piled high with snow.