A London council has warned of a potential new national fire safety crisis after it discovered hundreds of low-rise timber-frame homes had been fitted with plastic cladding that can spread fire. Barnet council has alerted the government and the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, that other homeowners in similar properties across the country could be affected. It said the 580 homes that needed fixing in its area were “the tip of the iceberg”. The council has since found more homes with similar UPVC panels that were also not built with measures to stop the spread of fire. The one- and two-storey homes were built with timber frames from the 1930s to the 1960s but were retrofitted with UPVC cladding panels in the 1980s. Others have timber cladding, timber frames and inadequate fire compartmentation.