While a major wildfire burned out of control in northern Los Angeles, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. turned a corner on the biggest proactive power shutoff in California's history.

PG&E, a subsidiary of PG&E Corp., announced that as of midday on Oct. 11, it had restored power to 74% of the nearly 738,000 customers whose electricity service was cut off in an effort to prevent electric lines from igniting wildfires. According to the utility, high winds with gusts up to 70 mph had abated in its northern and central California service territory to the point where power had been restored to about 543,000 customers in 34 of 35 affected counties.

Meanwhile, Edison International subsidiary Southern California Edison Co., which already cut power to about 21,000 customers in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Ventura and Riverside counties, said it had notified 110,000 more customers that their electricity, too, might be turned off over the next several days. That number represents an improvement, though, as SCE previously said power shutoffs were under consideration for more than 223,000 customers in seven counties.

"Due to projected strong winds with some potential for fire activity, approximately 110,000 customers are under consideration for possible public safety power shutoffs and have been notified that SCE is exploring options for a potential public safety power shutoff for the next several days," SCE spokeswoman Sally Jeun said shortly after PG&E announced that conditions had improved in its service territory.

Still, Jeun said, "We don't have any outages related to any [actual ongoing] fires as of right now."

PG&E initiated its public safety power shutoffs early Oct. 9 to prevent the possibility of trees being blown onto energized power lines or the lines being knocked down and sparking fires on dry vegetation. Blackouts continued through Oct. 10 from the Northern Sierra to the Greater Bay Area to Kern County, Calif.

Weather conditions improved by Oct. 11, allowing more than 6,300 field personnel and crews in 44 helicopters to inspect lines and equipment and make repairs. They identified 23 instances of weather-related damage that had to be fixed before electric service was restored, PG&E said.

But in Southern California, Santa Anna winds fanned the flames of the 4,600-acre Saddleridge Brush Fire in the Porter Ranch and Granada Hills areas of northern Los Angeles. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention reported multiple fires across California, but the Saddleridge fire was the most problematic at that time. The source of the blaze has not yet been determined.

"Cause is not the focus," Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Margaret Stewart said of the Saddleridge fire at about 1:30 p.m. ET on Oct. 11. "We have a growing major dynamic fire."

PG&E's efforts to prevent wildfires from its equipment has been the subject of widespread criticism among customers, ratepayer advocates and politicians.

Gov. Gavin Newsom called a press conference Oct. 10 during which he skewered PG&E, saying the utility's widespread shutoffs were the result of years of neglect and failure to harden power equipment to make it resilient to weather damage.

"It's decisions that were not made that have led to this moment in PG&E's history and the state of California as it relates to our major investor-owned utility," Newsom said. "This is not, from my perspective, a climate change story as much as a story about greed and mismanagement over the course of decades. Neglect — a desire to advance not public safety but profits. ... They chose not to modernize their grid over the course of many, many years. It led to their own demise. It led to the bankruptcy."

Lawsuits seeking billions of dollars in damages stemming from past wildfires prompted PG&E and its parent to seek protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code.

PG&E rejects San Francisco's asset purchase offer

In another development, PG&E Corp. has rejected the City and County of San Francisco's Sept. 6 offer to purchase Pacific Gas and Electric's electricity assets in San Francisco.

The utility sent a letter dated Oct. 7 to San Francisco Mayor London Breed and City Attorney Dennis Herrera explaining that the $2.5 billion offer is significantly below the fair value of the PG&E assets subject to the proposed deal. The offer also appears to significantly underestimate substantial separation and impairment costs the city would have to pay as part of the proposed transaction, PG&E Corp. CEO William Johnson said in the letter.

Also, the deal would unfairly pass a lot of costs to remaining PG&E customers across the state, Johnson wrote, noting further, "We disagree with the suggestion that PG&E's San Francisco customers would be better served by another entity."