Pacific Gas and Electric (NYSE:PCG) implemented extra-targeted public safety power shutoffs (PSPS) Monday as powerful offshore winds gusted through drought-stricken Northern and Central California, prompting a red-flag warning from the National Weather Service.

The weather conditions were like those in October 2017, when firestorms driven by high winds and dry conditions tore through Napa, Sonoma and neighboring counties, killing 44 people and leveling thousands of structures. The 22 major wine country fires, some of which PG&E equipment started, were among the most destructive fires in state history at the time.

Napa and Sonoma were two of the more than 20 counties affected by Monday’s PSPS, including Monterey and Santa Barbara counties in Central California.

“This safety shutoff is due to a dry, offshore wind event expected to start Sunday night and bring wind gusts of up to 50 mph by Monday morning,” PG&E said in a news release. “As a result of this wind event, combined with extreme to exceptional drought conditions and extremely dry vegetation, PG&E began sending advanced notifications Saturday to customers where PG&E may need to proactively turn off power for safety to reduce the risk of wildfire from energized power lines.”

The state’s largest utility said it expected to blackout 25,000 customers in “very targeted” areas starting at 4 a.m. Monday and continuing through Tuesday.

The number of customers potentially affected was a small fraction of those impacted by PG&E’s PSPS events in October 2019, which left nearly 2.4 million residents in the dark, some for up to a week, and caused an uproar among ratepayers and public officials. (See California Officials Hammer PG&E over Power Shutoffs and Calif. Regulators Bash PG&E’s Power Shutoffs.)

PG&E’s widespread use of PSPS in 2019 followed the wine country fires and the Camp Fire of November 2018, which killed at least 84 people and razed much of the town of Paradise. State fire investigators determined the cause of the Camp Fire was a broken PG&E transmission line that sparked dry vegetation. The fire exploded, driven by offshore winds like those that blew Monday.

In September 2020, PG&E blacked out 172,000 customers, or about 499,000 residents, in portions of 22 counties in the Sierra Nevada foothills, the Sacramento Valley and the northern San Francisco Bay Area. Since then, under intense pressure from the California Public Utilities Commission and the governor’s office, PG&E has made efforts to limit the scope and duration of its PSPS events. (See CPUC Orders Changes to PG&E Shutoff Rules.)

The utility set up a Wildfire Operations Center, which is staffed 24 hours a day in fire season. It is installing 1,150 weather stations, adding more than 400 high-definition fire cameras, and reserving 65 helicopters to speed line inspections and restoration work after shutoffs, it said.

The addition of 1,000 sectionalizing devices and switches have helped limit the size of PSPS outages, PG&E said.

“The scope of [Monday’s] overall event represents less than 0.5% of all PG&E customers,” the utility said, adding that “weather ‘all-clears’ will occur as early as Monday evening with restoration expected to begin Tuesday afternoon.”

“Once conditions are clear, PG&E electric crews will begin patrolling in the air, in vehicles and on foot to visually check de-energized lines for hazards or damage to make sure it is safe to restore power,” it said.

A tree falling on a PG&E line is suspected of starting this summer’s Dixie Fire, the second largest in state history, and a tree falling on a PG&E line, which remained energized despite a surrounding PSPS event, started last year’s fatal Zogg Fire, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) concluded.

Last month, the Shasta County district attorney’s office filed four manslaughter charges against PG&E in the Zogg Fire, marking the fourth time in five years the utility has faced charges in disasters related to its gas and electric systems. (See PG&E Denies New Manslaughter Charges.)

PG&E pleaded guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter in the Camp Fire, but it has denied the most recent manslaughter charges.