diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 0148ef5f6..6051fb3aa 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@
 
 - Director timeline seeks cross the dateline along the short longitude arc.
 
+- Fire detections with missing or impossible positions are skipped while genuine zero coordinates remain valid.
+
 - Frequently reused terrain batches retain their cached heights ahead of unused cells.
 
 - Recent Imagery’s exported `setBox` and `searchHls` reject missing, blank or
diff --git a/docs/CURRENT-STATE.md b/docs/CURRENT-STATE.md
index 56f4dbb38..6ac31dd73 100644
--- a/docs/CURRENT-STATE.md
+++ b/docs/CURRENT-STATE.md
@@ -1429,6 +1429,8 @@ accessible name remains "Don't show this again". Control behavior is unchanged.
 
 ## FIRMS source status
 
+FIRMS ingestion and adaptation require explicit finite coordinates within WGS84 ranges; genuine zero coordinates remain valid and admitted detection indices stay sequential.
+
 The FIRMS proxy records source success after appending its rows. If aggregation
 throws, that source reports failure without a contradictory success entry.
 The existing per-record append continues to support large feeds; sequential
diff --git a/src/data/firms-coordinate-evidence.test.mjs b/src/data/firms-coordinate-evidence.test.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d60a7ee37
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/data/firms-coordinate-evidence.test.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+import test from 'node:test';
+import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+import { parseFirmsCsv } from './firmsCsv.js';
+import { adaptFirmsRecords } from './firmsAdapt.js';
+test('missing positions do not become fire detections at zero coordinates', () => {
+  const csv =
+    'latitude,longitude,acq_date,acq_time,confidence,frp\n,1,2026-07-16,1200,n,1\n1, ,2026-07-16,1200,n,1\n95,1,2026-07-16,1200,n,1\n1,181,2026-07-16,1200,n,1\n0,0,2026-07-16,1200,n,1\n-90,-180,2026-07-16,1200,n,1';
+  assert.deepEqual(
+    parseFirmsCsv(csv).map((r) => [r.lat, r.lon]),
+    [
+      [0, 0],
+      [-90, -180],
+    ],
+  );
+  const records = [
+    { lat: null, lon: 1 },
+    { lat: '', lon: 1 },
+    { lat: false, lon: 1 },
+    { lat: 95, lon: 1 },
+    { lat: 1, lon: 181 },
+    { lat: '0', lon: 0 },
+    { lat: -90, lon: -180 },
+  ];
+  assert.deepEqual(
+    adaptFirmsRecords(records).map((r) => [r.index, r.lat, r.lon]),
+    [
+      [0, 0, 0],
+      [1, -90, -180],
+    ],
+  );
+});
+
+test('both axes keep their exact bounds and drop values just past them', () => {
+  const row = (lat, lon) => `${lat},${lon},2026-07-16,1200,n,1`;
+  const csv = [
+    'latitude,longitude,acq_date,acq_time,confidence,frp',
+    row(90, 180),
+    row(-90, -180),
+    row(90.000001, 0),
+    row(-90.000001, 0),
+    row(0, 180.000001),
+    row(0, -180.000001),
+    row(' ', 5),
+    row(5, '\t'),
+  ].join('\n');
+  assert.deepEqual(
+    parseFirmsCsv(csv).map((r) => [r.lat, r.lon]),
+    [
+      [90, 180],
+      [-90, -180],
+    ],
+  );
+  const kept = adaptFirmsRecords([
+    { lat: 90, lon: 180 },
+    { lat: '-90', lon: '-180' },
+    { lat: -90.000001, lon: 0 },
+    { lat: 0, lon: -180.000001 },
+    { lat: 5, lon: ' ' },
+    { lat: 5, lon: undefined },
+    { lat: [5], lon: 5 },
+  ]);
+  assert.deepEqual(
+    kept.map((r) => [r.lat, r.lon]),
+    [
+      [90, 180],
+      [-90, -180],
+    ],
+  );
+});
diff --git a/src/data/firmsAdapt.js b/src/data/firmsAdapt.js
index 2fc909bce..312838e80 100644
--- a/src/data/firmsAdapt.js
+++ b/src/data/firmsAdapt.js
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@
  */
 
 /**
- * Map proxy fire records into internal fire records. Records with
- * non-finite coordinates are skipped; `index` is the post-skip position
+ * Map proxy fire records into internal fire records. Records with missing,
+ * non-numeric or out-of-range (WGS84) coordinates are skipped; `index` is the post-skip position
  * (it keys pick ids and context-store ids, so it must stay sequential).
  * `contextEntity`/`position` start null and are lazily filled by the layer.
  * @param {?Array<Object>} records - /api/firms `fires` array.
@@ -21,7 +21,15 @@ export function adaptFirmsRecords(records) {
   for (const record of records) {
     const lat = Number(record?.lat);
     const lon = Number(record?.lon);
-    if (!Number.isFinite(lat) || !Number.isFinite(lon)) continue;
+    if (
+      !hasCoordinateValue(record?.lat) ||
+      !hasCoordinateValue(record?.lon) ||
+      !Number.isFinite(lat) ||
+      !Number.isFinite(lon) ||
+      Math.abs(lat) > 90 ||
+      Math.abs(lon) > 180
+    )
+      continue;
     fires.push({
       index: fires.length,
       lat,
@@ -110,3 +118,11 @@ function finiteNumber(value) {
   const number = Number(value);
   return Number.isFinite(number) ? number : 0;
 }
+
+// Same rule as parseFirmsCsv: a blank or non-numeric value is not a zero.
+function hasCoordinateValue(value) {
+  return (
+    typeof value === 'number' ||
+    (typeof value === 'string' && value.trim() !== '')
+  );
+}
diff --git a/src/data/firmsCsv.js b/src/data/firmsCsv.js
index 7f9019e18..aafeac50b 100644
--- a/src/data/firmsCsv.js
+++ b/src/data/firmsCsv.js
@@ -105,7 +105,17 @@ export function parseFirmsCsv(text) {
     if (parts.length < header.length) continue; // malformed row — skip
     const lat = Number(parts[iLat]);
     const lon = Number(parts[iLon]);
-    if (!Number.isFinite(lat) || !Number.isFinite(lon)) continue;
+    // Blank or out-of-range positions are dropped, never read as 0 (see
+    // hasCoordinateValue in firmsAdapt.js for the proxy-record side).
+    if (
+      !parts[iLat].trim() ||
+      !parts[iLon].trim() ||
+      !Number.isFinite(lat) ||
+      !Number.isFinite(lon) ||
+      Math.abs(lat) > 90 ||
+      Math.abs(lon) > 180
+    )
+      continue;
 
     records.push({
       lat,