Fire crews from Port Alberni, Cherry Creek, Beaver Creek and Sproat Lake fire departments took hours to put out a fire in the Paper Excellence paper mill in Port Alberni on Friday. …Port Alberni Deputy Fire Chief Wes Patterson said that the majority of the fire was initially contained to a conveyor belt system used to unload the barge with hog fuel. “As the wind picked up, as it usually does in the afternoon in the Port Alberni inlet, it started to blow these embers onto the land and started to cause spot fires,” Patterson said. Embers also flew into a building, a wooden structure clad in metal, which then caught fire. …No one was injured from the fire, though ambulances were on standby, Patterson said. Patterson said his understanding was that mill operations will be unaffected by the fire.