Wild Fire In Reno

A massive inferno burning across the mountains of northwest Nevada has evacuated thousands from the area to residents horror as firefighters fight for the many homes and potential lives swept up in the blaze.

About 9,500 people from the edge of the city have been evacuated from the path of the massive wildfire and the local fire chief said the blaze could rage through Saturday.

About 9,500 people from the edge of the city have been evacuated from the path of the massive wildfire and the local fire chief said the blaze could rage through Saturday.

'The whole mountain was on fire,' said Dick Hecht, a Mountain Springs Road resident who escaped with his wife first to a shopping center and later to Reno High School after waking to the smell of intense smoke about 1 30 a.m.

Firefighters said they're having a difficult time getting ahead of the flames, which were being whipped up by high winds and gusts up to 60 mph.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has declared the fire a major disaster.

Ninety schools were closed for the day to clear the roads of school traffic and make way for emergency workers.About 125 crew members are fighting the blaze, dubbed the Caughlin Fire.

Officials have set up shelter sites for pets and livestock, and school buses are on standby to help with evacuations.

Evacuated families were shaken up by the fire.'I thought it was an earthquake,' Darian Thorp told the Reno Gazette Journal.'We could see it from our window. Then I could see it from both sides. It was all around us.'