LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- City officials joined representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday to say the demolition of a Highview home filled with dangerous chemicals is going well.

Experts are keeping a close eye on the home as crews tear down the house, a process they said will take about seven days.

"Everything is going as well as we planned, and I'm a little surprised and pleased," said Chuck Berry, the EPA's federal on-scene coordinator. "But we're always on our toes to try and monitor what we're doing constantly. Again, we're going about it very slowly, on purpose, so that if anything does happen, we can stand down, assess the situation and get back to making sure that it works properly."

After detonating explosives on-site back in July, the city originally planned to burn down the house. But the EPA scratched that plan, instead opting to tear it down with an excavator, which it said is the safer option.

The home belongs to Marc Hibel, 53, a former chemist.

Acting on tips from the public that Hibel "may be in possession of homemade explosives," two properties in the 6200 block of Applegate Lane were searched by Louisville Metro Police officers and other law enforcement officials, who found multiple explosives and "massive amounts" of dangerous chemicals. Officials said there were more than 20 different chemicals identified. 

Police said Hibel owns one of the homes and had been squatting in the other house on the corner. He was arrested and charged with burglary and wanton endangerment. 

It's been five days since they started tearing down the home. Crews stacked giant shipping containers around it earlier this month, started removing the roof and exterior walls earlier this week, and now, the EPA said they're in the process of removing the material from inside each room, leaving the interior walls standing.

IMAGES | Inside the Highview home where explosives and chemicals were found

Louisville officials are trying to determine the best way to remove hazardous materials from the home on Applegate Lane. 

"It's definitely something that keeps you a little bit more on edge," said Elizabeth Landeros, who lives nearby and uses Applegate Lane to visit her parents on the other side of the neighborhood. "I'm so excited. I can't wait to live normally again. I'm just so excited for it to be done with and I'm glad that it's going good, because it's still something that's really nerve-wracking with them saying it's under control. But you never really know."

According to court documents, Hibel invited authorities in and showed them what he called homemade explosives using TNT. An arrest citation for Hibel said he "admitted to possessing laboratory-grade equipment and chemicals."

Crews recently found "a lot" of compressed gas cylinders in the house. The EPA has also put what officials call an air monitoring network in yards across the neighborhood. The locked boxes make sure the air is safe for neighbors, even those outside of the blocked off area of Applegate Lane.

So far, Berry said, the process is going smoothly and as planned. They did encounter a single fire, but Berry said they immediately put it out without a problem.

"Our plans all along have included running into things that we don't expect," he said. "Our process is set up so that we can handle things we don't expect — very small doses in a very small quantities at any one time. I've always talked about this as a slow process by design. (If) you want to demo a house, you can do in a matter of hours or taking weeks."

Metro Councilman Jeff Hudson, who attended Friday's news conference, while he didn't physically do anything to help with demolition, he is proud to see multiple teams coming together to make it happen.

"I'm really impressed by the professionalism with which the EPA has come in here and put together a good plan," he said. "And they're executing that plan to the letter. Anything that has occurred, they've already got a contingency plan in place for it. They've dealt with it."

Jody Meiman, executive director of Louisville Metro Emergency Services, is happy with the project's progress.

"It's going very well," he said. "Obviously, it's slow, and we still continue to ask for patience. We've been visiting neighbors as we see them out, just letting them know we still got our community notification process in place. We're communicating with the immediate neighbors in the area. And we've got our notification system in case something was to happen for an evacuation or shelter in place."

Once the job is finished, the EPA said they're going to restore the land where the home sat.

"I think that one thing that a lot of residents in the area were worried about is your property value," Landeros said. "You definitely don't want that to drop, and it's probably they said it wasn't going to drop, but I'm sure it is because of that situation. So just knowing that at least it'll look decent kind of makes me feel a little bit better."

Right now, people living on or near Applegate Lane must use a pass it get to and from home.

"To the residents that live around the house: thank you," Hudson said. "Thank you for your patience. Thank you for your understanding. I know it's a hard time you're going through and I hope it's over soon. I firmly believe that ... life can get back to normal. Applegate Lane will be a quiet neighborhood. I'm sure they will all have that."

For more information or updates on the project, click here. 

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