TOWN OF TRENTON — Police have ruled out arson as the cause of a fire that destroyed a house after it was moved here from Fond du Lac County early Wednesday morning.

Fox Lake firefighters responded to the fire around 3:30 a.m.; 90 minutes after the home had arrived at a farmstead owned by Richard Flier at W8837 Highway F.

Investigators initially called the blaze suspicious in origin because no gas or electrical services were hooked up to the house, which had not been unloaded from a moving trailer  when the blaze started.

However, Dodge County Sheriff Todd Nehls said Thursday that investigation shows the fire was not due to arson.

"We called in the Wisconsin State Patrol to inspect the vehicle that pulled the house to that location and our investigation shows that while the house was being moved it struck some power lines on County Highway AW at the Fond du Lac-Dodge County line," Nehls said.

Nehls added that moving the house may have also caused a tire rub on the trailer that generated enough friction to ignite the house.

"Our investigation now is focusing on the lack of permits, the use of equipment to bring the house into Dodge County and the lack of a request for a law enforcement escort for the

move of that house. So there's quite an investigation going on, but right now arson is not part of the investigation," Nehls said.

In addition to the house, the blaze also destroyed a tractor, a corn crib and damaged other buildings on the property.

Fox Lake Fire Chief Bill Frank said the department did a controlled burn of a home that sat on the farmstead two months ago. The home was burned to make way for a new one.

"He can't move into it anymore," Frank said Wednesday.