Mitt Romney Covers Breaking News!

June 26, 2018 - Orem, UT, USA - Mitt Romney and Ann Romney celebrate onstage after Mitt was declared the winner of the 2018 Utah Republican Senate Primary on June 26, 2018, in Orem, Utah. Brian Cahn/TNS via ZUMA Wire

Mitt Romney has been busy shaking hands and knocking on doors for the past six months, while he runs to replace Orrin Hatch as the new senator from Utah. But he apparently took a few minutes off the campaign trail Friday night to take some video and still photos of an unfolding disaster in his Holladay, Utah, neighborhood:

Romney is famous as a very wealthy guy who still pumps his own gas, shovels his own walk, and takes a hands-on approach to home improvements. So perhaps it’s no surprise that he was on the scene to capture footage of a garage and camper going up in flames at a house just a 10-minute walk from his own.

At least 20 firefighters responded to the blaze; no one was injured. Romney’s photos suggest, though, that he recognized the news value of the neighborhood disaster. His campaign sent the video and photos to the local Sinclair News Broadcast station in Salt Lake City, KJZZ, which published them without fanfare—just a modest photo credit reading “Courtesy Mitt Romney.” 

KJZZ confirmed that the photographer was indeed the former GOP presidential nominee and now Senate candidate Mitt Romney.