Lynne Mishele, who lost her home in Anne Heche’s car crash on Friday, is “extremely fortunate” to be alive, one of her neighbors said. Mishele’s other neighbors launched a GoFundMe fundraiser to help, raising over $40,000 in just one day. Heche, 53, crashed her car into Mishele’s Los Angeles home, causing it to catch fire. Heche is still hospitalized after suffering burns and is in stable condition, according to her representative.
Mishele “was extremely fortunate” to survive without injuries, her neighbor, Lynne Bernstein, told PEOPLE. Mishele’s dogs and her turtle also survived. Mishele was thankfully in another part of her home at the time of the accident. She “was in shock” before she realized what happened and saw neighbors trying to make sure she and anyone else in the home were safe.
Videos by PopCulture.com
“I don’t think she got what was going on,” Bernstein recalled. “She said, ‘What happened? What happened?” Berinstein said Heche’s car drove “almost all the way through” Mishele’s home, which “almost immediately” caught fire. The Los Angeles Fire Department previously said the accident left the house structurally compromised and led to a “heavy fire” at the home.
Mishele’s other neighbors, John and Jennifer Durand, launched a GoFundMe to help Mishele pay for repairs and replace her belongings “Lynne lives with her beautiful pups Bree and Rueban, and tortoise Marley in the Mar Vista home that was destroyed this week by a car driving into the home at a high rate of speed, catching the house on fire,” the Durands wrote on their campaign. “Lynne and her family very narrowly escaped physical harm, and for that, we are very, very grateful.”
The house was “red-tagged” by the Los Angeles Fire Department, leaving Mishele without most of her possessions. She lost “mementos, all equipment for her business including her laptop and iPad, all of her clothing and basic necessities, and all household items,” the Durands noted. Firefighters helped her recover some belongings, but everything else is “gone,” they wrote. They also asked fans to support Mishele’s home organization business, Creative Organization.
Heche, who recently had a recurring role on CBS’ All Rise, was driving a blue Mini Cooper when the car crashed into Michele’s home in the Mar Vista neighborhood. LAPD responded to the call just before 11 a.m. and it took 59 firefighters over an hour to extinguish the flame and pull Heche out of the car. Witnesses told TMZ Heche first crashed into an apartment complex garage before reversing and trying to speed away. She then crashed into the home, igniting the fire.
Heche was reportedly severely burned. “Anne is currently in stable condition,” her representative told PEOPLE Saturday. “Her family and friends ask for your thoughts and prayers and to respect her privacy during this difficult time.” The crash is now under investigation.
