More than 500,000 households in north-east England may have been left without television or radio signal after a fire at a TV mast. Fire services were called to the 1,032ft (315-metre) Bilsdale transmitter, near Helmsley in North Yorkshire, on Tuesday afternoon when an engineer spotted smoke coming from its base. A 1,000ft exclusion zone was in place around the mast on Wednesday due to concerns it could be structurally unsafe. North Yorkshire fire and rescue service said it was waiting for the site operator, Arqiva, to confirm whether the mast was structurally secure before it could determine whether the fire had been extinguished. It added: “At this time there is nothing to suggest that the fire is the result of any criminal activity but this cannot be confirmed until a closer examination has been carried out.” The transmitter, which has towered over the North Yorkshire landscape since it was built in 1969, provides coverage to about a million people in the north-east including in York and Harrogate. An Arqiva spokesperson said it was anticipated that “any impact on services could affect approximately 500k households”. About 200,000 of those use Freeview as their primary TV platform. The outage affects Freeview television services and many BBC and commercial radio stations. Arqiva said it was gradually restoring services using mobile transmitters but has not said when all stations will be back on air. It said: “Following the incident at Bilsdale yesterday our teams continue to work with the emergency services to ensure the safety of the site. We have started the process to gradually restore services using a combination of temporary structures and existing infrastructure elsewhere in the region, and will be moving through this process as quickly and safely as possible. “We are waiting to assess the damage caused. Our teams are currently mobilising temporary equipment to site; however, we are unable to provide specific timelines for restoration of any services at this point.” Ron Needham, 71, and his wife, Sue, 69, were hiking on the moors when they saw smoke coming from the transmitter. Needham, from Wakefield, said they had been “a little bit worried” when they witnessed “smoke coming out of the top a bit like a chimney”. He added: “By the time we left the moor and got back down to our car along a narrow moorland road the smoke had stopped, so we assumed it was under control and then a fire engine came flying down this narrow moorland road. “The initial thoughts were that it was something of a disaster.”