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population. Therefore, we will ensure that no less than 55 percent of the funding <br />available for grants will be awarded to volunteer and combination departments. Assuring <br />this minimum level of funding for volunteer and combination departments has not been a <br />problem in the past as over 90 percent of our applicants are volunteer or combination <br />departments. <br />In order to fulfill our obligations under the law, we will make funding decisions <br />using rank order after the panel evaluation as the preliminary basis. We may deviate <br />from rank order and make funding decisions based on the type of department (career, <br />combination, or volunteer), size and character of the community the applicant serves <br />(urban, suburban, or rural), and/or the geographic location of the fire department. In <br />these instances where we are making decisions based on geographic location, we will use <br />States as the basic geographic unit. Geographic location of an applicant may be used <br />primarily as a final discriminator, i.e., in cases where applicants have similar <br />qualifications, we may use the geographic location of the applicants to ma�mize the <br />diversity of the awardees. <br />Fire Prevention and Safety Grant Program <br />In addition to the grants available to fire departments in fiscal year 2004 through <br />the competitive grantprogram, we will set aside as much as $27,SOO,OOOof the funds <br />available under the Assistance to Firefighter Grant Program in order for us to make grants <br />to, or enter into contracts or cooperative agreements with, national, State, local or <br />community organizations or agencies, including fire departments, for the purpose of <br />carrying out fire prevention and injury prevention programs. <br />� <br />