Story highlights The largest of the fires grows to 173,000 acresThousands of firefighters are working to contain the blazesCarpinteria, California (CNN) Gov. Jerry Brown has a sobering message for Southern Californians after a week of raging wildfires: This is your new normal. A half dozen fires have collectively scorched nearly 200,000 acres since last week and destroyed 792 structures, according to officials. As 4,000 firefighters battled the largest one, the Thomas Fire, the governor surveyed the damage in Ventura County on Saturday. "With climate change, some scientists are saying that Southern California is literally burning up," he said.

Source: CNN December 10, 2017 09:45 UTC