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ARDEN, N.C. -- Environmental Protection Agency officials, or the EPA, are targeting a building in Arden they say contains dangerous toxins.

However, the EPA says area residents are not at risk. They stress no one will be put at risk as they tear down the building that used to house Blue Ridge Plating. EPA staff went door-to-door on Monday letting neighbors know this.

"We're just going around to local businesses and residents and just letting them know that you'll see a little bit of activity out here, letting 'em know that we're going to take the chemicals out of the building and letting them know that the actual building is coming down," Angela Miller with the EPA said.

Monday was the EPA's first day on site. The heavy lifting is expected to start in about a week. Contractors will be out in hazmat suits, taking away chemicals - including hydrochloric acid, cyanides and toxic heavy metals.

The EPA identified Blue Ridge Plating as a superfund site, so it cleaned up the outside portion of the site in 2007. But the business closed last year - and according to officials - left behind toxic chemicals, leaky and unlabeled containers, so the EPA is back again to dispose of everything this time.

EPA officials say they hope to have the site cleaned and safe by late January.