Drone footage shot on Saturday morning shows the devastation left behind by a tornado that tore through London, Kentucky, on Friday night.
LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. – 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.
Laurel County Fire Department Maj. Leslie “Les” Roger Leatherman died Friday night after a tornado ripped through the Sunshine Hills subdivision outside of London, Kentucky.
“His house is nothing but blocks now; his house doesn’t exist,” Laurel County Fire Department Deputy Chief Terry Wattenbarger told FOX Weather.
Leatherman responded to a call on Friday night and was returning home when the tornado unfolded.
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Leatherman’s wife, Michelle, was critically injured and remains in critical but stable condition. The couple was found in a field about 150 to 300 feet away from their home.
Maj. Leslie “Les” Roger Leatherman, of the Laurel County Fire Department, was killed when a tornado hit his neighborhood on May 16, 2025.
(Laurel County Fire Department / FOX Weather)
“It actually appears that he gave his life to save her life,” Wattenbarger said.
Wattenbarger is a lifelong friend and fellow first responder with Leatherman. The pair graduated from high school together and joined the volunteer fire department.
Wattenbarger said his friend likely died doing what he dedicated his life to: helping others.
“He was just truly a public servant at heart,” Wattenbarger said.
After volunteer fire service, Leatherman became an emergency medical technician, then a 911 operator and a Kentucky State Police dispatcher. Prior to his passing, he was an assistant director at Whitley County 911.
“His whole life, volunteer and career has been nothing but public service and giving of himself to the public and trying to take care of other people’s emergencies,” Wattenbarger said.
Leatherman’s death marks the first line-of-duty death for the department since 1962.
Tornado damage in Laurel County, Kentucky.
(@jsmithwx / FOX Weather)
Leatherman is survived by his wife, Michelle; son, Evan; daughter-in-law, Amber; and his two grandchildren. Wattenbarger said he was a proud parent and loved his son “endlessly.”
“He was a very proud parent. He loved Evan endlessly. Evan played soccer and Les was constantly just bragging on Evan, you know, how good he was doing in soccer. And once he got grandkids, he was even prouder of his grandkids,” he said.
In his 39 years of service, Wattenbarger estimates that May 16 is the worst local natural disaster in Laurel County. Both veteran firefighters responded to a deadly tornado in March 2012, which claimed the lives of six people.
At least 17 lives in Laurel County were taken during the severe weather and tornado event on Friday. The death toll also continues to rise in the neighboring counties of eastern Kentucky.
Tornado damage in London, Kentucky as seen on May 17, 2025.
(London Mayor Randall Weddle / FOX Weather)
The Sunshine Hill subdivision suffered unimaginable destruction. Another Laurel County firefighter responding to the tornado also suffered a complete loss of his home, Wattenbarger said.
The department is continuing to respond to the natural disaster and mourn the loss of a great public servant.
“We’re survivors, and we’re going to continue. He would want us to do, and that is to provide the service that he provided for his last to the community of Laurel County.”
