BERLIN — About 200 people Friday night saluted Berlin-based Center Rock Inc. and its 70 employees for their role in the dramatic rescue of 33 Chilean miners.

A reception in their honor was held at the Hillside Lodge. The main sponsor was Jeff Hobbs, owner of Mountaineer Sports Grille in Berlin.

In addition to residents, area lawmakers, Somerset County commissioners, Berlin Borough Council and a Chilean ambassador were on hand to thank Center Rock.

Center Rock was at the forefront of the rescue, using its hammer-style drill heads to create the opening that reached miners, trapped a half-mile underground.

Brandon Fisher, owner of Center Rock, plus his wife, Julie, and Richard Soppe, special products developer for the company, spent many weeks in Chile helping to free the miners.

Fisher said his employees back at home deserve all the credit. He said the employees worked around the clock during the rescue to manufacture and ship replacement parts for their drilling operation. Work that normally would take two weeks to complete was finished in a couple of days, he said.

“It’s amazing,” he said about the rescue. “The emotions we felt when we broke into the mine were the most incredible feelings I ever felt in my life,” he said.

Julie Fisher said she is proud and honored to be associated with a fine group of individuals as those from Center Rock.

“My heart is full knowing that all of us made a difference for the 33 miners and their families and the people of Chile,” she said.

Soppe said no one could have scripted a better result at the Chilean mine.

“All 33 miners are out and alive,” he said. “The heroes are the miners, who lived underground all that time,” he said.

Thomas Foy, a Center Rock employee and one of the nine Quecreek miners, said he is proud of what the Fishers and Soppe and the workers at Center Rock have done.

“They went over there to drill a hole to get the guys out,” he said.

“They used our bits that we designed.”

Dario Paya, the Chilean ambassador to the Organization of American States, was at the event to say thanks to everyone at Center Rock.

“We all felt very close,” he said. “The (Chilean) mining minister said to give those guys a huge hug. I told him that I already did and that I would do so again.”

Hobbs said the gathering was a way to pay everyone at Center Rock for their hard work.

“We are proud of our people,” he said.

State Reps. Carl Walker Metzgar, R-Somerset, and Frank Burns, D-East Taylor, issued a proclamation in the state House of Representatives honoring Center Rock.

Both attended the event.

“We’re very proud of them,” Metzgar said. “It shows the ingenuity and inherent ability of those folks at Center Rock and around the region,” he said.

Somerset County President Commissioner Pamela Tokar-Ickes told the crowd that the area could not be more proud of Center Rock.

“It was a combination of human spirit, ingenuity and perseverance,” she said about how they got the miners out.

The commissioners have designated Oct. 26 as Center Rock Day in Somerset County, she said.

State Sen. Richard Kasunic,

D-Dunbar, said Brandon Fisher and his employees, when called upon, rose to the occasion. Their ingenuity and hard work enabled rescuers to get the miners out two months earlier than first anticipated, he said.

Kasunic sponsored a resolution in the state Senate honoring Center Rock.

Berlin Borough Council President John Long presented Center Rock with a plaque from council.

He said the borough thanks everyone at Center Rock for their time, talent and resources to rescue the miners.