A suspected live hand grenade found outside a Jersey City fire house last night ended up there after a man walking two pit bulls tried to hand it to a firefighter, police said.

At around 6:30 p.m., the firefighter told police that a thin man wearing a red hat and walking two large pit bulls approached him outside Jersey City Fire Company 4 at 468 Ocean Ave. and attempted to hand it to him, the report stated.

When the firefighter refused to accept the apparent explosive, the man dropped it on the sidewalk and fled south on Ocean Avenue, police said.

The grenade, which still had its pin attached when it was found by police on the sidewalk in front of the fire house, was later "disposed" of by the Jersey City Emergency Services Bomb Squad, police said.

The firefighter told police the man was about 6 feet tall and was wearing a bluish gray jean jacket, the report stated.

Santiago Rodriguez, who works in the grocery store next to the fire house, was in the store when authorities shut down vehicular and pedestrian traffic in the area while responding to the scare.

"The fire department came in and made us leave," he said. "We didn't see anything. It was very scary."