Power lines are suspected in nearly half of the more than dozen fires that erupted around the state amid strong October winds even as utilities unleashed unprecedented, widespread blackouts in an effort to avoid sparking blazes.

Among them are the massive Kincade Fire still burning in Sonoma County Wine Country and Southern California fires this week near the Reagan library and Getty museum.

State officials this week said they would investigate the utilities’ use of power shutdowns after the blackouts to hundreds of thousands of customers in a state that is home to marquee technology firms like Google, Apple and Facebook made California a national punchline.

The causes of most of the fires remain under investigation. Did the power shutoffs help or do more harm than good?

“It’s really too early to tell as far as the effectiveness of the utility shutdowns,” said Scott McLean, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. “We are definitely delving into that.”

San Diego Gas and Electric pioneered the so-called public safety power shutoffs after the devastating 2007 Witch Fire. Pacific Gas and Electric was criticized last fall after it decided against de-energizing a major transmission line east of Chico that failed and sparked the Camp Fire, California’s deadliest and most destructive.

But after initiating its largest-ever public safety power shutoffs this month to avoid igniting another blaze, PG&E was blasted for cutting power so broadly, leaving many residents without electricity for days.

Gov. Gavin Newsom called the utility’s admittedly clumsy implementation “inexcusable” and declared that “utilities must be held accountable and be aggressively penalized for their overreliance” on the shutoffs to avoid fires. He called on the California Public Utilities Commission to “launch a total reform of power shutoff rules and regulations.”

Yet even with all the inconvenience and cost of the blackouts, fires broke out as well, many linked to power equipment.

PG&E acknowledged that its high-voltage transmission line near The Geysers geothermal plants in Sonoma County may have ignited the Kincade Fire, which has scorched more than 76,000 acres, destroyed some 266 homes and buildings and forced mass evacuations. The fire erupted Oct. 23 near an energized line during safety shutoffs to some 28,000 Sonoma County customers.

Three days later, PG&E acknowledged its equipment may have been involved in two smaller fires in Lafayette, one involving a fallen power pole and transformer, another involving communication wiring coming loose and contacting a power line.

PG&E wasn’t the only utility making such disclosures.

Southern California Edison reported that its “facilities were impacted close in time” to the eruption of the Saddle Ridge Fire on Oct. 10. The fire, which consumed some 8,800 acres near Sylmar, started beneath a high-voltage transmission tower. Edison had cut power to some 24,000 homes and businesses due to high winds and red-flag fire warnings that day.

The Southern California utility also reported Oct. 30 that “there was circuit activity” on a distribution line about the same time the Easy Fire started burning near Simi Valley and threatened the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Some 82,000 customers were shut off that day due to high winds and fire threats.

In addition, the Los Angeles Fire Department reported that the Oct. 28 Getty Fire that has burned some 750 acres in Brentwood near the famous Getty Center art museum was started by a tree branch falling on power lines during high winds.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which serves that area, did not shut power to customers during the high winds. As a matter of policy, the department does not shut off power because it serves an urban area that doesn’t pose the same wildfire risks.

But despite a handful of high-profile wildfires that may have been ignited by energized power lines, utility officials say scores of other blazes may have been averted from lines that were found damaged from winds.

PG&E said Thursday its crews found 143 cases in which crews found wires or equipment from Bakersfield to the Oregon border that were damaged by winds during the public safety power shutoffs Oct. 26 and 29, spokesman Jeff Smith said.

“It’s always more of a challenge to demonstrate what might have happened,” Smith said. “But we absolutely believe these 143 events are very much the type of incident that could lead to a potential wildfire if the lines were energized.”

#PSPS: Extreme wind event – many instances of damage/hazards, incl. trees, limbs & branches into lines & downed pwr lines. These could've been a source of ignition had a PSPS not been initiated. We appreciate your patience as crews work to restore service. https://t.co/ye2fPfkYM3 pic.twitter.com/zGhPsltfCV — PG&E (@PGE4Me) October 31, 2019

PG&E later revised that figure upward to about 156 examples.