( CNN ) -- The New York City Fire Department on Thursday will graduate its most diverse class ever after decades of criticism and legal battles over the racial composition of its firefighting force . Of the 242 probationary firefighters joining the ranks , 62 % are minorities . Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano will preside over the ceremony . In the last 12 years , the fire department has doubled the number of minority firefighters , the city said in a statement . One year ago , a federal judge ordered New York to pay $ 128 million to firefighters who claimed in court that the department 's entrance exam was deliberately designed to keep African-Americans and Latinos off the force . `` It is a very important step , '' said Ghita Schwarz , senior staff attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights , which represented a group of black firefighters , referring to the latest graduating class . `` It 's due almost entirely to the efforts of the Vulcan Society to make sure that the tests that the fire department used were fair . '' Last year 's ruling followed a lawsuit that alleged that the exams had little to do with firefighting and instead focused on cognitive and reading skills . Because of the hereditary nature of the fire department , white candidates were recruited and supported throughout the application process by family or neighborhood contacts and whites consistently passed while minority candidates failed . Paul Washington , a former president of the Vulcan Society , a group of black firefighters , praised racial makeup of the latest class . `` We 've got to continue down this path , '' he said . `` We 've been assured a more fair testing procedure . We 've also made them increase their recruiting in neighborhoods of color but these have to continue ... We need a commissioner and a mayor who are committed to this if we want to see a bigger number of people of color coming onto the job . '' The lack of minorities in U.S. fire departments has been the focus of many lawsuits . The last available national figures , from the 2000 census , show 8.4 % of the nation 's firefighting forces to be black and 8.6 % to be Latino . Blacks are 12.2 % of the population ; Latinos are roughly 16 % . However , other big cities have made much faster progress at diversifying their ranks . More than half of the Philadelphia and Los Angeles fire departments members are black or Latino .
New York on Fire ##s graduate most diverse firefighting academy in history . Of the 242 probationary officers joining the academy , 62 % are minorities . The change comes a year ago after judge ruled that entrance exam was biased .