Greeley officials reveal cause of fire that tore through Colorado encampment, killing woman and dog

The Greeley Fire Department on Tuesday revealed new information about its investigation into a fatal fire that started over the weekend at the time that a powerful microburst hit the area. The grass fire burned through an encampment in the southern part of the Colorado city and killed a woman and a dog. A man was also badly burned.

Fire officials described the wind event as a localized dry microburst and said wind gusts were recorded at between 85 and 100 mph. They said it started just after 1:30 p.m. on Saturday in an area of high‑voltage power lines and that it "displaced multiple wooden transmission-support structures."

"This stress caused an energized conductor to fail at a compression connector, releasing electrical energy that ignited the vegetation below," the fire department wrote in a news release.

The fire burned approximately 22 acres. The department's investigation has determined that the fire didn't start inside the encampment and was not human-caused. It has been classified as an accidental incident.

The name of the woman who was killed hasn't been released. She was 45.