Amanda Bynes under psychiatric hold after starting fire

Troubled actress Amanda Bynes has been put on 72 hours of involuntary psychiatric hold after starting a small fire outside a house.

Fire department was called after Bynes, 27, sparked the fire in the driveway area of a house, whose members are not connected to the actress, the Hollywood Reporter said quoting Sergeant Eric Buschow of the Ventura County Sheriff's Department.

Deputies spoke with Bynes and determined that she met "the criteria of a 5150," Buschow said.

The California Welfare and Institutions Code can put a person under 72-hour involuntary psychiatric hold after they "make statements that they're either a danger to themselves or others, or gravely disabled."

It was not a deliberate attempt to start the fire and there was no damage to the home, he said.

According to an eye witnesses, the former child star had her pants on fire and a gas can trailing fire through a driveway near her family home.

She put the fire out from her pants and rushed to her dog before hailing a cab and speeding away, the eye witness said.

Bynes has gained notoriety for her frequent run-ins with law due to her erratic behaviour. She is often seen picking up fights on Twitter or updating about her plastic surgeries on the social networking site.