US actress Anne Heche has been taken to hospital in a critical condition following a collision that left her vehicle “engulfed in flames”.
The incident occurred on Friday morning in the Mar Vista area of Los Angeles, near her home.
Heche, 53, is the former partner of talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, and is known for films including Donnie Brasco and Cedar Rapids.
Pictures and video footage obtained by US media outlet TMZ showed Heche driving a blue Mini Cooper, which was later pictured severely damaged at the scene.
The vehicle struck a two-storey home and “erupted in heavy fire” according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
“Fifty-nine firefighters took 65 minutes to access, confine and fully extinguish the stubborn flames within the heavily damaged structure,” an LAFD report stated.
“One female adult (was) found within the vehicle, who has been taken to an area hospital by LAFD Paramedics in critical condition.”
The LAFD also confirmed to the PA news agency that the vehicle had driven ten meters into the residence but that the occupant had escaped without injury.
The building was left “uninhabitable,” spokesman Brian Humphrey said.
Heche began dating DeGeneres in 1997 but separated in 2000.
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