Winter Hill in danger as fires merge and close in

Fire on Winter Hill described as being close to the transmitter. What will be the implications for NW viewers if the transmitter staff have to evacuate or, worse still, any of the buildings/equipment is damaged?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-44644013

Are transmitters still staffed?

Sites like Emley are, but that’s a regional HQ. I thought Winter might be. Even if it isn’t, the fire appears quite close to it.

Purely speculation but I suppose it depends on what's around the base of the mast and its guy anchors. Looking at this photo there is grassland around but a tarmaced road at one side so I suppose that could halt it from that direction. Transmitter buildings themselves are usually pretty sturdy and secure

If the fire reached the bottom of one of the guys and was sufficient to weaken it then the mast could come down, I wouldn't have thought it would be hot enough to do that, unless the grease they put on the guys is flammable.

Or might there be issues with smoke being sucked into the air inlets for the air conditioning system that cools the transmitters?

Arqiva have said they are not anticipating any threat to TV and radio services.

I’m not sure but I imagine this could be considered public safety concerns and they’ll do the best to protect the transmitter. Does the transmitter a primary one or a relay?

Edit : I say this because a few years back a fire was awfully close to the array of transmitters on Mt Wilson where all the LA TV stations are based, along with all the public safety radio stations. They took action to protect it but thankfully it wasn’t necessary.

Winter Hill is the only "main" transmitter for the BBC North West / ITV Granada region (in NW England terms, at least. I'm not sure how signals are fed to the Isle of Man?) Everything else is a relay of that AIUI.

It's the sole main transmitter for the North West, so one of the most important in the country. Pre-digital losing Winter Hill would have meant Granada being totally off air

If Winter Hill is lost, terrestrial coverage for over 90% population of the region will be lost, the small relays take their feeds by off air rebroadcast from it. The larger 'relays' are fibre fed, so would be unaffected. Douglas(IoM), Saddleworth, Storeton, Lancaster, and Kendal.

mb21 has a plethora of info about the site

http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/gallerypage.php?txid=271

Unless those fibre circuits originate at Winter Hill...

One set might do, but I think all sites have a diverse fed route too

Presumably the fibre fed sites can also get the back up satellite distribution too?

Of course it carries a lot of radio as well, though (I didn't realise until I just looked at mb21) not the Manchester stations like BBC Manchester and Key 103