 Raging fires have consumed swaths of Russia's Ural's mountains, killing at least four people, raising hundreds of homes, forcing evacuations and spurring investigations, officials said on Sunday. While fires are common in late spring and summer across Russia's vast forests and grassy steppes, but some recent blazes have fan suspicions of negligence. The fires spread to some settlements in the southern region of Khorgan, prompting a visit by Alexander Kirenkov, the emergency minister, early on Monday. Several investigative authorities have begun a criminal inquiry into a large fire that killed three people on Sunday and destroyed a number of homes and businesses. Nine of the 13 wildfires in the region were contained, however, the TASS state news agency said. Massive fires have also engulfed the Sverdlovsk region and the Tumen region to itself, in the Ural's. A gunpowder depot fire that forced the evacuation of a small village in the Sverdlovsk region was contained by Sunday evening, but 53 further fires still blaze, regional emergency authorities said. Independent news sites SOTA blamed explosions and arson for some of the fires.