[1][2] Unsafe jute and hemp storage in Cotton's Wharf and nearby wharves helped spread the fire.

[8] Around 7 30 p.m.,[8] a section of a warehouse collapsed on top of James Braidwood, the superintendent of the London Fire Engine Establishment, killing him.

[8] The fire took two weeks to put out, during which time around 20 police officers remained present at the scene.

[1][2][4][5] The fire caused damage to buildings up to 0.25 miles (0.40 km) away from Cotton's Wharf, and destroyed 11 acres (45,000 m2) of land.

[12][13] The range of the fire spanned from St Olave's Church to Battle Bridge Stairs.

[8] During the fire, tallow and oil from the wharves spilled into the River Thames,[8] destroying four sailing boats and numerous barges.

[15] In his diary, Arthur Munby described the scene as: "For near a quarter of a mile, the south bank of the Thames was on fire: a long line of what had been warehouses, their roofs and fronts all gone; and the tall ghastly sidewalls, white with heat, standing, or rather tottering, side by side in the midst of a mountainous desert of red & black ruin, which smouldered & steamed here, & there, sent up sheets of savage intolerable flame a hundred feet high.

[1][4] The Act also mandated that iron doors be used as these were less flammable, and recommended that they be shut at all times, which was not the case during the Tooley Street fire.

[6]: 195  A plaque to commemorate the fire, and memorialise James Braidwood, is located on Battle Bridge Lane, on the corner of Tooley Street.