'All of her property, including items of profound sentimental value, were destroyed,' the tenant's lawyer told ET.
Lynne Mishele is speaking out. The tenant in the home that burned down as a result of Anne Heche's fiery car crash issued a statement through her lawyer, Shawn Holley, on Tuesday.
"Ms. Mishele is devastated by what happened to her on Friday -- not only because she and her pets almost lost their lives, but because all of her property, including items of profound sentimental value, were destroyed," Holley told ET on behalf of Mishele. "She asks for privacy at this incredibly difficult time."
Mishele lived in the 738-square-foot, two-story home, which the Los Angeles Fire Department said had structural compromise and a heavy fire after the crash. Per the LAFD, 59 firefighters took 65 minutes to access, confine and fully extinguish the stubborn flames within the heavily damaged structure.
Following the crash, ET spoke to two of Mishele's neighbors, both of whom rushed to help when the incident began.
"I was in my den and my wife and I both heard something whiz by the house. She said she heard the impact. We ran outside... I got into the house and two of my neighbors were already inside," Lynne Berstein told ET. "It all happened too fast. Help kind of all got here at the same time. Then one of the neighbors... grabbed a garden hose, my wife grabbed a fire extinguisher for me, but by then the flames had gotten pretty intense... so we went to the back of the house to see if there was some other access."
"The smoke was just so intense, even in the backyard you could barely breathe," he added. "By the time I got to the front of the house we had kind of given up hope... It was very disheartening to have to leave there, like a gut punch, but by the time we got back to the front... the fire department was there."
David Manpearl likewise jumped into action after seeing "a car speed by very rapidly" and hearing "a low thud" while inside his home.
"I immediately walked out the door and I went over to the site. Several of the neighbors were standing outside of their houses at the time and at least one of them walked over to the site with me," he recalled. "... I climbed into the house where the car had entered the house. The car entered the house and went all the way through 40 feet of house and came to a stop at the back of the house. When I entered the house, I found the tenant who lived there and her pets were there and they were just trying to get organized and get out of the house."
As for how Mishele is doing now, Berstein told ET that "she's obviously very distraught." Manpearl is trying to ease the burden a bit through a GoFundMe to support his neighbor. As of Tuesday afternoon, the fundraiser had exceeded its $100,000 goal by nearly $20,000.
"She either had limited or no renters insurance," Manpearl said of Mishele. "She’s lost everything. Every single thing she owns... She’s got no recourse except for long-term recourse things like perhaps auto insurance liability... That certainly wouldn’t come close to covering her damages. How can she stay in an expensive beautiful neighborhood like this and expect to get the same rent she’s got when nobody can find places to stay?... Her life is gonna be changed for a long, long time."
Meanwhile, a rep for Heche told ET on Monday that her client is "in extreme critical condition" after the crash.
"She has a significant pulmonary injury requiring mechanical ventilation and burns that require surgical intervention," Heche's rep said. "She is in a coma and has not regained consciousness since shortly after the accident."
Around the same time, Los Angeles Police Department officials told ET that Heche is under investigation by the LAPD for misdemeanor DUI and hit-and-run.
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