By Eric Leonard -
NBC News
Actress Anne Heche remained trapped in her vehicle for about 45 minutes after crashing into a house in Los Angeles on August 5, despite efforts by emergency services to pull her out of the rubble, NBC News found after analyzing the official accident records.
Firefighters who responded to the Mar Vista neighborhood, where the traffic accident occurred at 10:56 a.m., were unable to access Heche's car, a Mini Cooper, for at least 20 minutes and took at least another 20 minutes. in removing it from the house that had caught fire as a result of the collision.
Firefighters and police officers arrive at the crash site of actress Anne Heche in Los Angeles on August 5, 2022. NBC Los Angeles
“Given the intensity of the fire and smoke, the interior of the vehicle could not be clearly seen or accessed,” Deputy Fire Chief Richard Fields told the local NBC News station in Los Angeles.
There was "heavy smoke, heavy fire, which makes it very difficult for us to just see inside a working structure fire," he explained.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner ruled that the 53-year-old actress died of smoke inhalation and thermal injuries.
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The official death certificate indicates that death occurred on August 11.
However, she was taken off life support on August 14, when her organs were donated.
According to the recordings to which NBC Los Angeles had access, the first fire truck arrived at the scene at 11:01 in the morning.
"There is one person trapped inside the vehicle," the dispatcher said.
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In total, it took 65 minutes "to access, confine and completely extinguish the persistent flames within the heavily damaged structure, and rescue an adult female who was inside the vehicle."
"We have identified a patient, inaccessible at this time. He is against the floorboard," a firefighter explained, according to the recording.
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The deputy police chief revealed that Heche's body was under the front seats of his Mini Cooper.
When they confirmed that she was alive, the firefighters used a large tonnage crane to remove the car - with the actress still inside - from the burning house.
The details of the rescue operation are known at the same time that it has been announced that the interpreter died without having made a will.
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His eldest son Homer Laffoon, 20, filed an application with the Los Angeles Supreme Court on Wednesday to administer the assets he owned, The Associated Press reported.
The petition also includes Atlas Tupper, the interpreter's 13-year-old son.
The legal document indicates that the value of Heche's assets is unknown.
This is what usually happens at the beginning of this type of case, when a legal person has not yet been assigned to evaluate the assets of the deceased person.
Laffoon also filed a petition for someone to be appointed to legally represent his brother's interests.
