New Jersey firefighters battle a four-alarm blaze at the former home of Singer's first sewing machine factory

ELIZABETH, NJ — Firefighters battled a four-alarm blaze Friday at a New Jersey industrial park that was once home to the first Singer sewing machine factory in the United States, a city official said.

A passerby reported the fire around 5:30 a.m. at a building in Elizabeth, city spokesperson Ruby Contreras said in an email. There were no reports of anyone in the building and no reports of injuries, Contreras said. Part of the building had already collapsed, she said.

The large industrial building is located south of Newark Liberty International Airport and a strait from the New York borough of Staten Island. A huge plume of smoke could be seen from Manhattan.

In 1873, the Singer Sewing Machine Manufacturing Company purchased 32 acres at the site and established the factory where it would make the iconic machines for more than a century, NJ.com reported. At the time, it was the largest single-site personnel factory in the world. Public records show the building sold for $1 million in August.

Video from the scene shows a building engulfed in flames as firefighters surround the structure.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, Contreras said.