A special "Friend of the Firemen" award was presented Thursday night to St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Summit Hill by the Diligence Fire Company, also of Summit Hill.

The presentation was made by Fire Chief Shawn Hoben to the Rev. James Burdess, pastor of the church, in the church rectory.Hoben said the award originally was to have been presented at the fire company's annual Christmas program, but was postponed.He praised the Rev. Burdess and the church for its cooperation and contributions to the fire department.The fire chief said every year, the church provides the concert stage for the annual Memorial Day weekend Stay-at-Home festival at no cost to the firefighters.Recently, before St. Stanislaus Catholic Church was razed, the Rev. Burdess permitted the firefighters to hold training sessions inside the structure."This was really important to the fire department," said Hoben. "Anytime you can go into such a building and do training, it helps us a lot."The Rev. Burdess responded by praising the work of the volunteer firefighters.