Actress Anne Heche is in critical condition after she crashed her car into a house in the Mar Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles on Friday afternoon, setting both the vehicle and the house on fire. She had to be rushed to hospital and is presently intubated after suffering severe burns in the horrific crash, according to multiple reports.
Heche, 53, was driving a blue Mini Cooper when she initially crashed into a Los Angeles apartment building's garage. The car reportedly blasted immediately after the collision. Witnesses on the scene told TMZ that they tried to help the actress out of her car before she fled the scene.
Horrifying Scene
According to witnesses on the scene, Heche had two crashes. After the first crash, bystanders reportedly attempted to help Heche in getting out of the car, but she allegedly backed up and continued driving, hitting another home where her car became "engulfed" in flames. Heche was reportedly transported to a Los Angeles hospital in an ambulance after the house apparently caught fire.
Horrifying photographs show the burned-out wreckage of her Mini Cooper, which was being removed from a hedge across the street from a school in the Mar Vista neighborhood. An earlier image also depicts Heche behind the wheel just prior to the second collision, with what seems to be a vodka bottle resting in the cup holder.
A doorcam video shows the actress's car driving down a Mar Vista street before colliding with a house and setting it on fire.
Given that a bottle with a red top was spotted in the car's cup holder just before the collision, it suggests that Heche may have been drunk. Brian Humphrey, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Fire Department, told Fox News Digital the person involved in the incident (Heche) was transferred to a medical facility and is alive, in critical condition.
Near-Fatal Crash
One video from the scene shows Heche being stretchered out in an ambulance by fire department officials. It is not known exactly how critical Hache is. She is presently being treated for her burns. Police have launched an investigation and further details about the crash are awaited.
Aerial shots of video from the accident obtained by Fox11 show smoke billowing out of the home in which she crashed into.
The actress, who dated Ellen Degeneres before their breakup, suffered severe burns, and is presently intubated, but doctors believe she will survive.
"Her condition prevents doctors from performing any tests to determine if she was driving under the influence of alcohol," TMZ also reported.
The Los Angeles Fire Department said that it took 59 personnel 65 minutes to extinguish the "stubborn flames" and "rescue one female adult found within the vehicle."
"The house was tons of smoke. I think they used the crane to move the car to extract the driver. It was crazy," an eyewitness told NBC Los Angeles.
According to Fox 11, firefighters were able to put out the flames in approximately an hour, but Heche was severely burned in the ensuing fire and is currently receiving medical care.
Heche has been frank about her past struggles with substance misuse. Heche is well-known for her high-profile relationship with Ellen DeGeneres in the 1990s. "I drank. I smoked. I did drugs. I had sex with people. I did anything I could to get the shame out of my life," she told ABC News in 2001, adding that her choices were a result of her painful childhood that stemmed from being sexually abused by her father, Donald Heche.
