Demolition crews Wednesday started taking apart a northeast Portland church destroyed in a massive fire Monday night.

KGW photo

The huge fire lit up the night sky.

The work at Star Missionary Baptist Church is expected to last all day, crews said. The walls must be brought down to keep them from collapsing.

RAW VIDEO: Huge flames | Firefighters battle blaze

Church leaders hope to salvage as many bricks as possible to reuse.

The 87-year-old church burned Monday night and into Tuesday morning.

More: About 100 firefighters fought blaze

Investigators have not yet been able to go inside the building. Once they do, a task force will work to determine whether the cause of the fire was accidental or arson.