Fire Damages Motel in Disney Suit : Anaheim: Now-vacant building’s owners were involved in 1993 litigation over the theme park’s expansion plans.

ANAHEIM — An early morning fire Friday severely damaged a vacant motel near Disneyland that was once embroiled in litigation with the Walt Disney Co. over the theme park’s expansion plans.

The blaze caused an estimated $700,000 in damage to the Flamingo Motel before it was brought under control in 48 minutes.

Disneyland Fire Chief Ben Ramirez came to the scene from his home to help battle the blaze from the theme park’s single fire engine and help protect surrounding Disney property, said Rudy Weyland, Anaheim Fire Department spokesman and division chief.

“They just have a small firetruck and they stood by and helped,” Weyland said.

The cause of the fire is unknown and under investigation. However, Weyland said the motel has been boarded up for quite some time and lures transients who sleep inside and could have sparked the blaze.

In 1993, the motel’s owners, along with those of two other motels, a hotel and several properties in the area, sued the Walt Disney Co. over the company’s then $3-billion plan to expand Disneyland.

At the time, the property owners said they feared the city was unlawfully intending to use powers of eminent domain to benefit Disneyland. The parties reached a tentative settlement later in the year but did not disclose the terms.

Weyland said Friday that he did not know who currently owns the property. The attorney who represented the motel owners at the time of the lawsuit declined to comment.

The fire was reported at the boarded-up motel at 1212 S. West St. at 1:28 a.m., Anaheim fire officials said. Firefighters arrived to find two first-floor rooms and three second-floor rooms of the 60-unit building burning, Weyland said.

Forty-four Anaheim firefighters and seven engines battled the blaze, assisted also by the Garden Grove Fire Department.