[8] In 2007, she was assigned the post of Area Commander, becoming the highest-ranking woman in the British Fire Service,[5] and in 2012 was made Assistant Chief Officer.

[4] In September 2016, Cotton was appointed interim commissioner of the London Fire Brigade following the retirement of Ron Dobson.

She appeared at several media briefings to give updates on casualty figures, challenges faced and firefighters' progress.

[15] In October 2017 she highlighted Fireman Sam in a campaign fighting sexism and promoting the gender-neutral term firefighter.

[16] Cotton said that research showed that women are put off a career in the fire service because it is seen as a job for men, and that as Fireman Sam is seen by children from an early age, the name reinforces this stereotype.

[17] In October 2019 the retired high court judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick, who led the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, was critical of Cotton's "remarkable insensitivity" for stating in her evidence that she would not change anything the London Fire Brigade did on the night of the Grenfell fire.

[18] On 3 November 2019, The Sunday Times reported that Dany Cotton rejected the findings of the Moore-Bick inquiry into the Grenfell fire, calling them a 'stitch up'.