A black former New York City firefighter recounted for a federal judge yesterday how he discovered a noose draped over his gear in a Brooklyn firehouse.

“I was very upset — I felt threatened physically, because of what a hangman’s noose represents — especially to African-Americans,” Lanaird Granger told Judge Nicholas Garaufis in Brooklyn federal court.

The January 2005 incident, at Engine Co. 238 in Greenpoint , was “substantiated” by an internal FDNY probe, he added.

Granger’s claims followed testimony this week from other black firefighters about racial harassment.

Granger, who said he has since retired due to injuries, sued the city over the noose incident and settled for undisclosed terms.

Granger also made a pitch yesterday for hiring more minorities.

His testimony came during a special bench trial before Garaufis, who is gauging ways to attract more minority firefighters to the FDNY.

The department’s racial makeup is only 3 percent African-American in a city that is 26 percent black.