Anne Heche Accident: Neighbors Describe ‘Horrific’ Crash and House Fire That ‘Scared’ Neighborhood

Anne Heche continues to recover in the hospital after her wild car crash on Friday that left her severely burned and shook a Los Angeles neighborhood to panic out of the blue. While Heche’s road to recovery and normalcy is far away at this point, including potential legal issues, onlookers and those who witnessed the accident are still trying to gather themselves in the wake.

Lynne Bernstein and other neighbors have been sharing their take on what happened, how they tried to free Heche from the vehicle before firefighters arrived, and what happened to the owner of the home. Some of the neighbors have spoken to other media outlets over the weekend, with Bernstein speaking to Fox News. But according to ET Canada, many in the area have their own reactions.

One neighbor noted that the accident “scared the entire neighborhood” and Heche had been caught on camera blitzing through the neighborhood before crashing. According to TMZ, there is speculation that Heche was drinking due to photos from before the accident and her interactions with people who had tried to help her before the blaze.

TMZ also adds that a podcast episode of Better Together featured Heche consuming alcohol during the show. Early reports believed the episode was recorded and released the same day as the accident, but her reps informed the outlet that this was not true. The episode was reportedly recorded on Monday and eventually released on Thursday. It has been deleted.

Bernstein and others on the scene were reported to have attempted to save Heche shortly after the crash, but couldn’t succeed before the fire spread. “The smoke was just getting way too intense, we could hardly breathe,” Bernstein told Fox News. “The smoke was making it difficult to see.”

Another witness spoke with Fox and relayed how the crash woke up the typically quiet neighborhood. “Something we will remember for a longtime,” Yaroslav Borets told the outlet. “[This is] not the kind neighborhood that knows everyone next door…This is generally a safe place.”

A third only arrived after the crash and fire were extinguished, but felt that panic after seeing the streets blocked. “It was scary because my baby was home,” Sarah Bixler Pierce told Fox News. “It was kind of chaos. There was an ambulance, the fire had been extinguished at this point.”Heche was the only one injured in the crash and has been reported to be “stable,” though still in intensive care due to her burns.