Anne Heche between life and death: what the neighbors had to say after the dramatic car accident

“She responded that she wasn’t doing very well.”

Neighbors in Los Angeles described to People the aftermath of the fiery car crash that hospitalized actress Anne Heche. They also explained the steps they took to help save her and the resident of the house she crashed into.

Heche, 53, suffered burns as a result of the incident – which occurred in the Mar Vista neighborhood – and is currently intubated, People confirmed Saturday. A representative for the American star said she is in “stable condition.”

Lynne Bernstein, who has lived in his home near Venice with his wife Natalie since 1976, recalled how he and his neighbors, Dave and Gabriel, were able to talk to Heche moments after she crashed into the residence.

According to Bernstein, after the vehicle went “almost all the way” through the house and caught fire “almost immediately,” Dave was able to get in the back of the car and talk to Heche. “She responded that she wasn’t doing very well,” Bernstein said.

“He spoke to her briefly,” he noted. “He asked her to raise her hand or something … if she was okay and she said she couldn’t.”

Bernstein later said that if they had been able to free her from the car before the Los Angeles Fire Department arrived, “maybe she wouldn’t be in pain like she is now.”

“We were having trouble seeing and breathing,” Bernstein said of the smoke filling the house, noting that Gabriel began dousing the fire as Dave tried to extract Anne Heche from the car.