Crews early Sunday morning battled a large fire in northeast Minneapolis that caused several buildings to collapse.

Officials with the Minneapolis Fire Department say crews responded to a report of a fire around 4:13 a.m. on the 1500 block of Central Avenue Northeast. 

Crews arrived to find a three-story commercial building fully engulfed in flames. The fire spread to two adjacent buildings, causing partial collapses and drawing more than three alarms.

The Minneapolis Fire Department says crews struggled to reach the building due to a large pile of discarded tires and debris blocking the road, several locked gated parking areas and a BNSF railway bridge.

Minneapolis Assistant Fire Chief Melanie Ruker said the fire hydrants were far away and some of them did not have enough water pressure to support the number of crews on the scene. Fire engines had long hose lays to fire hydrants in the area to gain enough water to supply. Four aerial ladder water towers and several large volume ground nozzle headlines were also used.

The smoke created from the blaze was visible for miles and caught the attention of residents like Jaron Magstadt.

"We were leaving coffee, walking back to our place and saw a giant pillar of smoke, so we decided to go and snoop a little bit," Magstadt said.

Officials say there may have been people experiencing homelessness in the area at the time of the fire. Crews searched all buildings that weren't fully engulfed and did not find anyone. No injuries have been reported.

BNSF was able to move the railcars occupying the nearby tracks that the fire was impending upon, officials say. BNSF confirmed the railcars were empty.

The fire forced BNSF to halt service for several hours, but it resumed Sunday afternoon.

The burned-out buildings drew crowds of onlookers and photographers after the flames were contained. Nearby business owner Lucy Bacon described the damage as "a 14th-century Scottish castle, pretty demolished."

She added that the road closures affected her business, though less than expected. 

"Yesterday I was surprised that we did the numbers that we did, because I thought it would be like… and today it's been pretty active, so not as bad as I thought," Bacon said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.