Despite efforts to attract female and minority applicants, the New York City Fire Department placed dead last in diversity among the nation’s 10 largest cities, according to the City Council’s Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice Services.

Council members decried the findings as “abysmal” and “horrendous” during a committee hearing yesterday and warned the department that if things aren’t improved soon, they may recommend that New York follow in the footsteps of other cities that have imposed court orders to even out their ranks.

After two years of pressure from the council, the department touted increasing diversity as one of its top six goals this year. Its deputy commissioner for administration, Douglas White, testified that among the new initiatives is a requirement that all department employees participate in a diversity workshop over the next year. The department has also established a Diversity Leadership Council to encourage policies that will foster greater inclusion. In addition, exams to promote the diverse pool of emergency medical technicians to the rank of firefighter will be offered every 18 months.

Existing programs, such the Fire & Emergency Medical Services Exploring Program, will continue to reach out to minority youth to promote careers in the department. Further, at the High School for Fire & Life Safety in East New York, Brooklyn, established last September, members of minority groups make up 99% of the student body.

After announcing the new programs, however, Mr. White conceded during questioning that there haven’t been any funds dedicated specifically for these initiatives.

“That’s amazing to me,” the committee’s chairwoman, Yvette Clarke, said. “That does not demonstrate a level of urgency, dedication, and commitment to making this happen.”

A Fire Department spokeswoman, Virginia Lam, said the issue was “blown out of proportion.” While there isn’t a dedicated budget, she said, there are adequate funds and shared resources available to put the plans into action.

The council committee, along with an African-American firefighters group, the Vulcan Society, is pushing the department to re-establish the cadet program, used from 1996 until 2002, which offered CUNY students six months of full-time paid work experience with the Fire Department. About one-third of all black firefighters hired by the department since 2000 came through the program. Mr. White said the department doesn’t have enough money to reinstitute the program.

Women make up 0.27% of New York City firefighters. Other cities report female percentages of 2.5% to 11.8%. Members of minority groups make up 8.4% of New York firefighters, while other cities count members of these groups as between 30% and 50% of their ranks.

Mr. White said almost every other city that dramatically increased its numbers of minorities and women did so following a court order.

“Then let’s get a court order,” Councilman James Sanders of Queens replied.

The city has tried many programs to increase interest in the department among minorities and women. In 2003, the FDNY partnered with New York Sports Clubs to offer a special physical-training program for women.

Mr. White said another training session, held in Bedford-Stuyvesant in the hope of attracting minority candidates from that neighborhood, ended up with whites making up three-quarters of participants.

Despite efforts like those, the department gets few female or minority group applicants.

The underlying atmosphere of an “old boys network” is a major source of blame, according to Councilman Alan Gerson of Manhattan. “There are cultural obstacles we still need to overcome,” he said.

Ms. Clarke read a letter written on behalf of members of the United Women Firefighters, which, among other problems cited, said most of the city’s firehouses lack bathroom facilities for women.

While council members suggested that change is too slow in coming, department officials expressed pride at recent progress. In the past three years, Ms. Lam said, the department has bumped the share of women and minorities in each graduating class from 6.6% to about 15%. “We have a long way to go,” Ms. Lam said, “but we’ve made a great start, and a great foundation for the department.”