Gov. Newsom cut fire budget by $100M months before lethal California fires: report

However, a review of the state's annual budgets under Newsom shows that direct spending on fire prevention has increased dramatically over the last six years.

Other changes:

Newsom's director of communications, Izzy Gardon, called the budget cuts a "ridiculous lie," in a statement to Fox News Digital Friday night.

"The governor has doubled the size of our firefighting army, built the world's largest aerial firefighting fleet and the state has increased the forest management ten-fold since he took office," she wrote. "Facts matter."

His office attached statistics that refer to the overall increase in spending and personnel over a number of years since he took office in 2019, as opposed to commenting on the most recent cuts.

Cal Fire did not immediately respond to a request for comment as of 8 p.m. Friday.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to show that California's state spending on fire protection has increased since Gavin Newsom became governor.