Federal grant to help workers dislocated by Tennessee wildfires


              FILE -In this Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2016 file photo, smokes rises out of the remains of a burned-out business, in Gatlinburg, Tenn., after a wildfire swept through the area Monday.  Wildfires ravaged the tourist town of Gatlinburg, in the shadow of the Great Smoky Mountains, killing 14 people, destroying businesses and leaving hundreds of people homeless just after Thanksgiving. The devastation was voted Tennessee’s top for 2016 in a poll of Associated Press editors and broadcasters, followed by the Nov. 21 school bus crash in Chattanooga that left six elementary school children dead. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
FILE -In this Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2016 file photo, smokes rises out of the remains of a burned-out business, in Gatlinburg, Tenn., after a wildfire swept through the area Monday. Wildfires ravaged the tourist town of Gatlinburg, in the shadow of the Great Smoky Mountains, killing 14 people, destroying businesses and leaving hundreds of people homeless just after Thanksgiving. The devastation was voted Tennessee’s top for 2016 in a poll of Associated Press editors and broadcasters, followed by the Nov. 21 school bus crash in Chattanooga that left six elementary school children dead. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)

Devastating Gatlinburg fires

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Officials say the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development has received a $5.8 million federal grant to help workers affected by the eastern Tennessee wildfires in November.

The U.S. Department of Labor approved a National Dislocated Worker Grant to create disaster relief employment for individuals to assist in cleanup and recovery efforts following the wildfires that killed 14 people and burned thousands of buildings in the Great Smoky Mountains.

Officials say hundreds of workers dislocated by the fires are receiving unemployment benefits. The grant is expected to help about 200 Tennessee workers.

In a statement, state Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Burns Phillips says the money will "accelerate the cleanup and recovery process in an area of our state that saw so much devastation."

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