A series of shocking details have been uncovered in actress Anne Heche’s fiery crash into a Los Angeles home last week.
Heche sustained severe burns on her body and was rushed to a hospital on Friday in critical condition. A representative for the actress on Saturday said the 53-year-old was in stable condition and asked for privacy.
According to a press release from the Los Angeles Fire Department, Heche barreled into a 738 square foot two-story home “causing structural compromise and erupting in heavy fire prior to LAFD arrival.”
It took 59 firefighters 65 minutes to “access, confine and fully extinguish the stubborn flames within the heavily damaged structure, and rescue one female adult found within the vehicle, who has been taken to an area hospital by LAFD Paramedics in critical condition,” the press release added. “No other injuries reported.”
Moreover, while Heche was trapped inside the vehicle, neighbors of the destroyed home said they spoke to the actress, who was in real pain.
“She responded that she wasn’t doing real well,” said neighbor Lynne Bernstein.
Bernstein said Heche was speaking to a man named Dave, another neighbor, who was able to crawl into Heche’s Mini Cooper, according to People magazine.
“He actually talked to her briefly,” Bernstein recalled. “Yeah, he asked her to raise her hand or something … if she was okay and she said she couldn’t.”
The neighbors tried to remove Heche from the vehicle while another neighbor, Gabriel, used a hose to quell the flames.
“We were having a hard time seeing and breathing,” Bernstein said.
Bernstein added that Dave was “overcome by the smoke. So, he went to the back of the house to see if there was an alternative route, maybe we could get to her from the front of the vehicle. But the smoke, even on the backyard was pretty darn intense.”
“Maybe she wouldn’t be suffering the way she is now” if they were successful in their rescue efforts, the neighbor said.
Heche reportedly crashed into a garage of an apartment complex on Friday before backing up, speeding off, and eventually crashing into the Los Angeles home.
In video obtained by TMZ, Heche’s blue Mini Cooper is seen near the garage, and it seems the actress is speaking to residents of the complex. A male voice repeatedly asks Heche to get out of the car, and the actress responds, “no, sir,” the video suggests.
The vehicle in the video then backs up and speeds off.
Video from a home security camera shows the Mini Cooper moving at high speeds down a street before crashing into the home.
Moreover, as noted by The Daily Wire on Sunday, Heche was reportedly drinking vodka and downing wine coolers while appearing on a podcast that dropped hours before the crash.
“We each have a bottle in front of us because our friends sent us a bottle Re:Find!” the actress reportedly said on the “Better Together” podcast. Re:Find is a type of vodka. “And we are drinking it — with wine chasers,” Heche later added.
The “Six Days Seven Nights” actress was apparently slurring her words throughout the podcast, according to TMZ’s reporting. She also told listeners she was “rocked” by a “very bad day” and alluded to suffering “no good, very bad days.”
TMZ reported that the podcast was posted hours before Heche drove into the Los Angeles home.
The actress’s publicist has insisted the podcast was taped in advance, the New York Post noted.
The Post added that a bottle of Re:Find vodka appears to be in a photo of Heche’s busted vehicle.
Here’s the now mangled vehicle owned by actress Anne Heche being towed away after speeding and crashing into a Mar Vista home and sparking a fire. @CBSLA pic.twitter.com/rRSqnM1YDt
— Rachel Kim (@CBSLARachel) August 6, 2022
LAPD now confirms it was actress Anne Heche behind the wheel of her car, when she crashed into this Mar Vista home.
The woman who lives here, a long-time tenant, speaking with me by phone says “I’m a mess. We’re alive, but that’s about as far as it goes.”@CBSLA @KCBSKCALDesk pic.twitter.com/N4naUfcFgO— Tena Ezzeddine (@TenaCBSLA) August 7, 2022