A fire in the city’s South End neighborhood Wednesday destroyed a restaurant that is a popular breakfast and lunch spot for workers from the nearby Bath Iron Works shipyard.

Capt. Marc Wood of the Bath Fire Department said the fire at the Southgate Restaurant, 510 Washington St., destroyed the business, which is located within a few feet of the shipyard’s south gate entrance.

“At this point, it’s considered to be a complete loss. There was a lot of smoke and water damage,” Wood said after crews from Bath and several surrounding towns spent more than three hours at the fire scene.

The State Fire Marshal’s Office spent part of the evening investigating the cause, which does not appear to be suspicious.

No one was in the restaurant when the fire was reported just after 6 p.m. When fire crews arrived, they encountered heavy smoke coming out of the backside of the restaurant.

One Bath firefighter, a female, was transported to Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick to be treated for heat exhaustion, Wood said.

Wood said firefighters from Brunswick, Topsham and West Bath, along with two firefighters from Bath Iron Works helped fight the fire.