Tens of thousands raised for woman almost killed when Anne Heche crashed into her home

A woman whose home was destroyed after actor Anne Heche’s car crashed into it has received thousands of dollars in donations to rebuild the house.

Heche is recovering from “severe” burn injuries that she suffered on Friday, 5 August, after her speeding Mini Cooper rammed into a house in Mar Vista, Los Angeles. The Emmy Award-winning actor’s car burst into flames, causing a massive fire inside the house.

A representative for Heche confirmed that she is “currently in a stable condition” and intubated. “Her family and friends ask for your thoughts and prayers and to respect her privacy during this difficult time,” they told People.

Lynne Mishele, whose house was “completely burned” in the mishap and was “red-tagged” by officials, deeming it unsafe for use, is now rebuilding her life after she lost her lifetime of possessions, a GoFundMe by her neighbours has said.

Ms Mishele was “extremely fortunate” to escape unscathed with her two dogs and a turtle as she was in another part of the house at the time of the incident, her neighbour Lynne Bernstein told People.

Ms Mishele was in a state of shock and did not even realise what had happened, Ms Bernstein said. She hadn’t realised that a car was inside her house before she saw Mr Bernstein and other neighbours rushing to help survivours of the crash, he said.

“I don’t think she got what was going on. She said, ‘What happened? What happened?’” he recalled.

Mr Bernstein said Ms Mishele, her two dogs, and a pet turtle were lucky to have survived without any injury as the vehicle was “almost all the way through”.

John and Jennifer Durand, the owner of the one-storey house that was destroyed, have also launched a GoFundMe to help her emerge from the economic and emotional loss.

“Lynne lives with her beautiful pups Bree and Rueban, and tortoise Marley in the Mar Vista home that was destroyed this week,” it said. “Lynne and her family very narrowly escaped physical harm, and for that we are very, very grateful.”

The Durands said that it is “distressing” that Ms Mishele lost her “entire lifetime of possessions, mementos, all equipment for her business including her laptop and iPad, all of her clothing and basic necessities, and all household items”.

Sharing the pictures of half-burnt family photographs and damaged frames stacked outside the house now turned into rubble, it said: “With firefighters’ help, she was able to pull a few damaged sentimental belongings from the wreckage. Everything else is gone.”

They urged people to donate to the campaign and support her home organisation business Creative Organisation on Instagram and TikTok.

“A kind and generous person, Lynne is always first to offer help to others. Today we are asking the community to come together and help Lynne start over,” it said.

According to the Los Angeles Fire Department, 59 firefighters attended the scene to contain the fire. The officials have not named Heche as the driver of the car on records, but reports claim that she was behind the wheel.

According to TMZ, witnesses first saw Heche’s car crash into the garage of an apartment building in the neighbourhood, before it smashed into the home on the west side of the city.