The driveway where Amanda Bynes started a fire

This is the driveway where Amanda Bynes started a fire.

It is located at 239 East Avenida De Los Arboles in Thousand Oaks, California.

Bynes is best known for starring in The Amanda Show, which was a comedy sketch series that aired on Nickelodeon between 1999 and 2002. She has also appeared in films such as Big Fat Liar (2002), What a Girl Wants (2003), She's the Man (2006), and Hairspray (2007).

During the 2000s, it seemed as though the young actress was destined for a lengthy career in Hollywood.

Mental illness

Unfortunately, it wasn't to be, as Bynes began suffering with bipolar disorder and manic depression.

In June 2010, she unexpectedly announced that she was going on an indefinite hiatus because she "didn't love acting anymore."

Around this time, she reportedly began abusing Adderall, MDMA, and cocaine.

In 2012, she was pulled over in West Hollywood while driving under the influence. Then, a few months later, prosecutors charged her with two separate hit-and-runs.

Her legal woes worsened in 2013 after she was arrested for smoking marijuana in the lobby of her apartment building and throwing a bong out of a window.

During this period, she also began to post bizarre tweets and start fights with other celebrities on social media.

The 2013 fire

The former child star was forced to leave New York and move back to her hometown of Thousand Oaks due to financial difficulties.

On the night of July 22nd, 2013, Bynes walked up to this property wearing a blonde wig and holding a plastic can of gasoline.

Inexplicably, she proceeded to light a fire in the driveway.

The house was owned by a woman named Bonnie Braaten, whom Bynes had never met before. Braaten missed the entire incident, as she was watching television in a room at the back.

One of Braaten's neighbors recalled how he walked out of his garage and saw the actress sitting on the pavement while a group of teenagers gathered around the fire and attempted to put it out.

At that point, the neighbor grabbed an extinguisher from his garage and dealt with the blaze.

During the incident, Bynes became frantic and started shouting about how her pet dog had been burned. She also tried to leave the scene in a taxi cab.

Aftermath

When the police arrived, they quickly realized that Bynes was experiencing a mental health episode, as the 27-year-old was unable to explain why she had started the fire. Consequently, she was placed under a 5150 mental evaluation hold, which allows adults to be involuntarily detained in psychiatric care for up to 72 hours.

Following a psychiatric assessment, a judge agreed to extend the hold after doctors successfully argued that they needed more time to diagnose her illness.

A few weeks later, Bynes' mother, Lynn, was granted temporary conservatorship over her affairs.

In March 2022, Bynes' eight-year conservatorship was officially terminated after she argued that her condition had improved. Her parents supported the decision, and mental health professionals opined that she was ready to regain her independence.

One year later, on March 20th, 2023, Bynes was placed under another 5150 psychiatric hold after she was found wandering naked along Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles.

According to reports, she flagged down a passing motorist, told them she was having a psychotic episode, and then called 911 herself.

Three months later, the former actress was reportedly admitted to a mental health facility after she started having thoughts about self-harm.