On August 17, 2020, dry thunderstorms sparked 21 wildfires in the Plumas and Lassen National Forests, which eventually merged to become the North Complex Fire. On September 8, 2020, a wind event caused the wildfire in the southeast portion of Butte County to overtake several foothill towns. As of October 21, 2020, the North Complex fire has burned an area covering 318,930 acres, caused 15 civilian fatalities, destroyed 2,352 structures in Plumas and Butte counties, and remains only 95% contained.

On August 22, 2020, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved emergency assistance through the major disaster declaration FEMA-4558-DR-CA, which allowed the Butte County Sheriff’s Office to request law enforcement mutual aid assistance from neighboring law enforcement agencies.  The Yolo County Sheriff’s Office provided two Animal Services personnel to assist with welfare checks on animals in the area evacuated by the fires between September 9, 2020, and September 15, 2020.   
 
A post-event Memorandum of Agreement memorializing the verbal agreement to request and provide mutual aid between both Sheriff’s Offices must be completed in order to submit a Law Enforcement Mutual Aid Reimbursement Request to FEMA.  Because this agreement is between government entities, Board of Supervisors' approval is now requested.