HILLSBORO, Ohio — A structure fire shut down Hobart Drive in both directions early Thursday, forcing the closure of Hillsboro Municipal Court and cutting off routine access to an industrial and education corridor that includes Southern State Community College and two aerospace manufacturers, according to the Highland County Emergency Management Agency.
The road was closed “until further notice” due to the fire, the agency said in a series of posts early Thursday morning. As of 6:58 a.m., police were allowing access through the closure only for employees who work on Hobart Drive, Southern State Community College staff, Highland County Sheriff’s Office employees and essential court personnel. Employees of PAS Technologies, whose Hillsboro plant sits on Hobart Drive, were instead being staged at Southern State Community College while the closure was in effect, the agency said.
By 7:20 a.m., the emergency management agency said Hillsboro Municipal Court would be closed for the entire day because of the fire, though the court’s clerk’s office would remain open for business.
Hobart Drive is anchored by Southern State Community College’s Central Campus, which opened in 1985 after the two-year college moved its administrative offices to Hillsboro in 1981. Southern State was chartered in 1975 to serve Adams, Brown, Clinton, Fayette and Highland counties and now also operates campuses in Mt. Orab and Washington Court House.
The street is also home to PAS Technologies, an aerospace and industrial gas turbine parts manufacturer that has operated a machining, welding and coating facility at 214 Hobart Drive for years. StandardAero, one of the aerospace industry’s largest independent maintenance, repair and overhaul providers, acquired PAS Technologies in 2022 and continues to run the Hillsboro site as a component repair facility.
The Highland County Emergency Management Agency did not immediately say what structure caught fire or whether anyone was injured. The agency said it would continue posting updates as conditions changed.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Highland County Emergency Management Agency.
