As recovery efforts continue, emergency management teams are conducting damage assessments to help Kentucky qualify for federal disaster assistance.

KENTUCKY, USA — A firefighter working to help others during Friday night’s destructive tornado has died. According to the Laurel County Fire Department, Major Roger Leslie Leatherman was fatally injured while responding to the tornado.

Multiple fatalities have been confirmed in Laurel County, Kentucky following a reported tornado overnight. Saturday morning, the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that nine people died and others had numerous severe injuries after the reported tornado.

The Salvation Army’s Louisville Area Command sent more support to Laurel and Pulaski counties after a tornado ripped through the area. The organization had 'boots on the ground' quickly. They loaded their mobile catering truck, rapid response unit, with supplies to continue helping those in need.

According to a preliminary investigation, the National Weather Service believes the tornado that ripped through London, Kentucky, could've been an EF-3.

The community of Laurel County, Kentucky, is grieving the loss of more than a dozen people, including a firefighter who spent nearly four decades helping others, after a tornado destroyed his neighborhood while he was on duty.

A preliminary survey by National Weather Service Jackson suggests an EF-3 tornado struck Laurel County late Friday.

Entire neighborhoods were razed, leaving residents combing through debris, desperate to recover fragments of their lives.