LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville Metro Emergency Management shared more pictures from inside the house on Applegate Lane that became the site of a massive cleanup last year after officials said chemicals and explosives were found in the home. 

The pictures, shared Tuesday, show boxes piled up the house — also described as a hoarding situation — along with containers and bottles. Meiman said the images are from inside the house at 6213 Applegate Lane. This month marks one year since the discovery of chemicals there. 

"That incident was hopefully a once-in-a-lifetime type of issue," said Jody Meiman, executive director of Metro Emergency Services. 

LMPD responded to the home in late July 2023 after police received information that the homeowner, Marc Hibel "may be in possession of homemade explosives." According to documentation, there were explosives and "massive amounts" of chemicals located. Officials said there were more than 20 different chemicals identified. 

Police arrested Hibel in connection to the investigation. He's currently facing charges of burglary and wanton endangerment. Police said Hibel is a chemist by trade. A citation said Hibel stated that he had previously made homemade explosives and homemade blasting caps that he detonated in his backyard. 

It was a large task for Meiman and others to determine the best way to safely clean up the property. 

"We reached out to people all over the country, and there wasn't anybody that had any experience in something like that," he said. "So we had to put our heads together, people from different agencies, and really work through the incident and figure out what that plan was going to be and how we were going to mitigate that."

One of the plans was for a controlled burn of the property. 

"We had to work through a situation that was not very popular for hardly anybody," Meiman said. "And I still am very confident in if we would've had to do that and had to burn that house down, that we would've been successful with that because of the practice that we did, because of the subject-matter experts that we had planning that process. ... It was something where we even had agencies from across the country that said 'There is no contractor in America that will touch this.'"

Meiman said he spoke with neighbors, sometimes in their living rooms or at their kitchen tables, trying to answer their questions and ease concerns. Ultimately, the plan to burn the property did not end up as a final solution. Meiman said a contractor from Kentucky agreed to do a controlled demolition of the property.

Applegate Lane House

This home on Applegate Lane was blocked off while officials figured out a plan for clean-up last summer. (WDRB file image)

"When we were walking through that building and walking around that building even with that contractor, at that time, they were very skeptical about doing it," he said. "There were will talks of, 'Hey, maybe burning this property could be the best thing.'"

He said even during the controlled demolition there were difficulties. 

"There was 20 pounds of mercury that was spilled accidently in our crush box that we had to stop what we were doing and mitigate that," Meiman said. "It was in a container it shouldn't have been in, so we had to treat that as a completely different issue, take care of that before any of the controlled demolition could take place."

Meiman said the contractors that did the demolition were very skilled operators, picking up individuals bottles with large pieces of equipment like a backhoe.

"There were unknown chemicals," he said. "There were unknown containers that had unknown chemicals inside of them. So we didn't know what we were dealing with until we had to deal with them. So it was just a very controlled, methodical situation where they took it piece by piece."

Meiman said he appreciates the patience from neighbors in the Highview community as officials worked together to make plans and clean up the property.

"Thanks for trusting us and having the confidence in us," he said. "I know it was not a very popular decision when we had let out that we were going to potentially burn this house. But the community needs to know that ... they've got a lot of very good, talented responders in this community that can come together."

Property at 6213 Applegate Lane is now an empty lot

The property at 6213 Applegate Lane is now an empty lot after demolition. (WDRB image from July 15, 2024)

Meiman said EMA has been asked to do presentations across the country on the incident at Applegate Lane.

Aside from the home at 6213 Applegate Lane, officials said Hibel had also been squatting in the neighboring home at 6211 Applegate Lane. Louisville Metro Emergency Services previously said testing by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency identified mercury outside and inside the home at 6211 Applegate Lane.

This week, the EPA confirmed with WDRB News that it finished its work at the home at 6211 Applegate Lane last November. EPA records show it is a SuperFund site, which allows the EPA to clean up contaminated locations. On Monday, a neighbor who lives close to Applegate Lane said he felt like the controlled demolition was the best decision for the property and was thankful officials decided against burning the house. 

"I feel more comfortable about the whole situation and just hope nothing like that happens like that again," said Charles Sondergeld, who lives nearby. "But, unfortunately, it does and it's usually in an area where you least expect it."

Hibel is expected to be back in court Aug. 19.

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