MOSCOW - Forest fires blamed on human activity have ravaged 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres) of land in remote parts of Russia in recent days, the emergency situations ministry said as television pictures showed homes destroyed by fire.
Worst hit are areas in the far east of the country, in the eastern Siberia region and around the Volga river and Urals mountains further west, a statement from the ministry said.

The fires posed no threat to inhabited areas or oil and gas pipelines running through these regions, the statement said.
Roman Vilgand, head of the Russian meteorological service, said the fires were caused by human activity.
"Unfortunately, there is a human factor," he was quoted by the ITAR-TASS news agency as saying. The natural conditions necessary to cause such fires do not currently exist in Russia, he said.
The emergency situations ministry said that nearly 170,000 hectares of ground had caught fire in Russia so far in 2006.