Officials to burn down Louisville home found with hazardous materials, several explosives inside
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS) — A “controlled burn” is going to happen to a Louisville home found with hazardous materials and several explosives.
Mayor Craig Greenberg and city officials provided an update on Louisville Metro Police Department’s and federal law enforcement’s investigations at a home in the Highview neighborhood.
Last week, LMPD searched 6211 and 6213 Applegate Lane after several citizens’ tips that hazardous materials, including potential explosives, may be present.
Greenberg said authorities found several explosive substances, along with other substances that could pose a potential risk to first responders. He said the owner of the 6213 Applegate Lane home, Marc Hibel, has been in possession of these chemicals for a long time, with some for multiple years.
Hibel was arrested on Thursday and charged with wanton endangerment, according to the arrest citation. Greenberg said other charges are being considered as well.
The citation states upon the search he admitted to being in possession of TNT (Picric acid), what officials called a “primary explosive”.
Officials said Hibel made statements that he had previously made homemade explosives and homemade blasting caps that had been detonated in his backyard.
“We are working to address this issue as safely and swiftly as possible and doing everything we can to make sure our community is not harmed,” Greenberg said. “Our law enforcement acted quickly to uncover this potentially unsafe situation, and we are working in tandem with all our partners, at multiple levels of government and through many different areas of expertise, to do the right thing and get it resolved.”’
The mayor signed an Emergency Declaration Order Monday afternoon. At his direction, code enforcement has an emergency demolition order for the home and attached garage.
After talking to multiple experts, Greenberg said a “planned, monitored and controlled burn of the facility is the only safe way to dispose of the contents of the home.”
He said this was deemed necessary as the home appears to be that of an “extreme hoarder” with a surplus of trash and debris occupying the home. This makes safe manual or robotic removal of materials impossible.
