Why.

Thanks for joining us tonight... we're learning more about the work that caused an apartment on madison's west side to partially collapse yesterday afternoon.

Today the city of madison said the demolition crews didn't have a permit.

Amy reid spoke to the city and joins us now with the latest.

People at the city are still scratching their heads.

They're trying to figure out what happened here and who is responsible.

Nats: scene the day after firetrucks and waiting residents filled the parking lot outside summit hill apartments, tape still surrounds the building, and a police officer makes sure no one goes inside.

The structure was deemed unsafe for residents to stay in after construction crews knocked down a load- bearing wall and four units collapsed.

Today we learned from the city, the workers did not have a permit.

George hank with building inspection is almost at a loss for words.

32:19 seeing pictures of the damage and looking at it, it's pretty obvious the joyce/joints were going this way.

... :29 we were kind of trying to figure out how they missed it :32 we reached out to the management compan rmk management, to figure that out.

According to madison city ordinance, the building owners are the ones responsible for getting the permit, but as part of a statement they said: "the summit hill manement team was not aware of any potential permitting issues with this renovation.

We are committed to using reputable, local contractors that are licensed in madison and have been vetted by the city.

As the operator, we will continue to work with all parties involved to ensure work is completed safely in accordance with local ordinances."

Later they said they hired meyer painting and drywall, though when we called, the company denied being at this property yesterday.

Nats: scene residents are still not allowed back inside until a private engineer says the building is safe.

Until then, rmk management said they are putting people up at a nearby hotel.

City building inspection doesn't know if the apartment can be fixed or will have to be rebuilt.

They're still just trying to comprehend.

32:43 i've been in this business for 36 years now.

...:53 never in my wildest dreams would i think about removing something like this without clearly identifying that it's not a load bearing wall :04 hank told me there wasn't anything wrong with the building before this, so nearby complexes shouldn't have to worry.

He also said if you see work being done, maybe at your apartment, and you're ever worried, you can always give the building inspection division a call to make sure