The accident occurred at 10:55 am. on Friday in the Mar Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles, according to police.
“The vehicle was traveling eastbound on Preston Way at a high rate of speed, entered the T intersection at Preston Way and Walgrove Ave, ran off the road and collided with the residence in the 1700 block of Walgrove,” a Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson said. he told Deadline.
“The vehicle was engulfed in flames and the driver was transported to a local hospital by the LAFD,” police said.
The house itself was also engulfed, with flames spreading to the roof.
“It took fifty-nine firefighters 65 minutes to gain access, contain and fully extinguish the persistent flames within the heavily damaged structure,” said Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Several local outlets later confirmed that the blue Mini Clubman involved in the incident is registered to Heche.
News footage from Fox11 shows the car went well into the home and may have hit one of its side walls.
Fox11’s eye in the sky, Stu Mandel, who often watches chases and crashes from the air, described the scene as it unfolded below him.
As firefighters used cables from a huge trailer to pull the car from the burning house, charred vehicle leader Mandel, a veteran of many such incidents, remarked, “If there’s anyone alive in there, that will be a miracle.”
The person was found to be alive, and firefighters placed the victim in a garage, with his face covered, and took him to an ambulance. Just before they reach the emergency vehicle, the person in the garage sits up and tries to get out of it.
“Oh my God!” says Mandel, who at the time thought the driver was a man. “He’s totally alive! He was trying to escape.”
Moments later, when emergency workers have brought the victim into the ambulance, a shocked Mandel says, “I don’t know. It was really very strange.”
According to TMZ, Heche initially had a minor accident at an apartment complex in the Mar Vista area, crashing into a wall in a parking lot, but left the scene. The collision at the house occurred a short time later.
Heche has several projects in the works. She will soon be seen in Sam Levinson’s upcoming HBO music industry drama series, The Idol, opposite The Weeknd. In June, she signed on to Lifetime’s Girl in Room 13, which premieres this fall. He is also set to star opposite Dermot Mulroney in Full Ride, an upcoming horror thriller and will recur on All Rise on OWN. Heche recently starred in the psychological thriller The Vanished for Netflix, directed by Peter Facinelli, as well as the thriller 13 Minutes by Quiver.
Erik Pedersen and CNS contributed to this story.
