TRENTON – A structure fire early Friday morning destroyed a house under construction on Nutting Lane, according to a local official.

Kelton Muise, chief of the Fire Department, said Friday that the house was too badly damaged to determine how or where the fire started.

“It was too far gone when we got there,” Muise said. “It went right down to the cellar.”

The fire was reported around 12:30 a.m. by a passer-by. Nutting Lane is off Bayside Road near Oak Point.

The owner, William Griffith, lives in New Jersey and comes and goes from the house every couple of weeks, the chief said.

He said no one was home at the time of the fire and that the home is believed to be insured.

Muise said renovators had turned the garage of the house into living space and added a second floor to it. He said the construction was close to being finished before the fire burned it to the ground.

About 40 firefighters from Bar Harbor, Lamoine and Trenton fought the blaze, which took several hours to extinguish, Muise said. The state fire marshal’s office has not been called to investigate, he said.

“There’s nothing for them to see,” he said.