After Anne Heche’s car crashed into a suburban Los Angeles home on August 5, the car burst into flames, causing the house to catch fire as well. Now, NBC 4 has reported that Heche was trapped in the burning car for 40 minutes before firefighters were able to reach her. According to recordings from the Los Angeles Fire Department obtained by the network, firefighters weren’t able to even access the car for 20 minutes after the crash. Then, it took another 20 minutes for rescuers to pull the car out of the building to try and save her. “I would imagine, just based on some of the very experienced officers that were initiating the firefight, that they made the best effort they could to try to identify that someone was in the vehicle,” Deputy Fire Chief Richard Fields told the network. Fields blamed the obvious obstacle — the fire — for the delay. “Given the heavy fire and smoke conditions, it wasn’t that you could clearly see into the vehicle or clearly be able to access it,” he said.
Sadly, Heche died of smoke inhalation and thermal injuries, according to the coroner’s report obtained by People, which officially ruled her death an accident. The coroner also found a fracture in Heche’s sternum “due to blunt trauma,” likely from the actor’s chest hitting the steering wheel upon impact.
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