LOUISVILLE, Ky. — In August, law enforcement announced the arrest of Marc Hibel, who is accused of storing potentially dangerous materials and chemicals in his house in Highview, a suburb in southwestern Louisville.

What You Need To Know

  • U.S Environmental Protection Agency has been working with local agencies on a plan to safely demolish a Highview home filled with potentially dangerous chemicals

  • Neighbors have expressed concerns over plans to dispose of the material and destroy the home

  • The plan to remove the material includes dismantling building, taking materials out in small amounts and burying them in a steel container in the backyard

In a legal motion, the home owner claimed he was “a former chemist with years of employment in the field.” 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the house is filled with unknown white powders. 

“It’s CrockPots, it’s refilled pill bottles, refilled soap containers, it’s sample jars, it’s everything. Any container you can possibly imagine has been refilled with something,” said Chuck Berry, the on-scene coordinator. 

Roger Richardson lives in the Highview neighborhood and has lived only a few doors down from Hibel’s house for over 50 years. 

“I’ll tell you my biggest concern and that’s if they had to burn. I’m very satisfied now, with what they’re going to do,” Richardson said.  

The EPA and Louisville Metro Emergency Services announced today their plan to remove the chemicals from the house while reducing risk to neighboring residents. 

That includes planning to dismantle the building, starting with the roof and the walls; contents in the house will be removed small amounts at a time; and contents will be in a buried in a steel container in the backyard.

The EPA announced a plan to build a wall of containers around the property to help prevent blasts from going into neighboring properties. 

“We know, we are 100% certain that we are going to have chemical reactions on site. It’s part of the process. We want to limit the scope of those reactions. We want to make sure that just a little bit of those are reacting off at anyone time. We will do that by only pulling out a little bit of material out on one time,” Berry explained.

Richardson says he is optimistic the agencies will take care of removing the material.  

“I’m not worried about it, and I know they are going to take care of it. I have no concerns. My biggest concern is who is going to take care of those two properties over there. 

Officials say the process should take a minimum of 10 days but could take longer. 

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