With another windstorm bearing down on Northern California, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. warned Friday that it may take a step it has long resisted — switching off power lines to prevent wildfires.

The utility, California’s largest, reported that it may turn off some lines if winds grow extreme. It is a step PG&E would rather not take, because it may mean cutting off power to police and fire stations or hospitals.

And if a wildfire does erupt, homeowners without electricity would not learn about it from television. They might also have trouble opening their garage doors to flee. But following the devastating wildfires that hit Northern California in October and Southern California this month, PG&E decided the step may be necessary.

“Safety is our top priority, and we’re constantly evaluating the impacts shutting off power can have on customers and critical first responder services in an emergency,” said company spokesman Greg Snapper.

So far, he said, the forecast does not show an immediate need to switch off power lines. But the utility, which maintains its own meteorology department, will keep an eye on conditions throughout the weekend.

The company also has taken the precaution of reprogramming devices called reclosers that automatically try to restart power lines that switch off for an unknown reason.

While reclosers can prevent or shorten blackouts, they have been implicated in past wildfires. So this weekend, PG&E has reprogrammed its reclosers in some areas to make sure they don’t try to restart power lines that may be knocked down in the wind, or may come into contact with tree branches.

PG&E’s fire-safety practices have come under intense scrutiny since several wind-driven fires swept through the Wine Country in October, killing 44 people and reducing entire neighborhoods to ash. Although investigators with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection have not announced a cause for any of the blazes, many homeowners have already filed suit against PG&E, accusing the utility of improperly maintaining and running its equipment. Many California wildfires in the past have been traced back to power lines falling or arcing during wind storms.

A Chronicle report in November highlighted the fire risk posed by reclosers, which send bursts of electricity through power lines that unexpectedly switch off. The night the Wine Country wildfires began, some of PG&E’s reclosers in the North Bay were programmed to try to restart their power lines, while others were programmed to let their electrical lines that switched off stay off.

While PG&E has in the past steered clear of preemptively turning off power lines during wind storms, San Diego’s electric utility has used the practice for years. And Southern California Edison, which serves most of the Los Angeles suburbs, turned off power to several small communities in the San Jacinto Mountains for one day this month, due to high winds.

David R. Baker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dbaker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @DavidBakerSF