diff --git a/changelog.d/1426-fire-intensity-filter.md b/changelog.d/1426-fire-intensity-filter.md
index d22e3f843..aacc37d71 100644
--- a/changelog.d/1426-fire-intensity-filter.md
+++ b/changelog.d/1426-fire-intensity-filter.md
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
   High confidence switch and an "N of M shown" counter to the layer row. Far
   zoom shows a Snap Map–style heatmap in the same colors instead of squares,
   one distinct spot per fire, empty where nothing burns, and cross-fades with
-  the markers around 3,000 km with no gap, keeping weak fires as markers. The filter applies once before
+  the markers around 4,500 km with no gap, keeping weak fires as markers. The filter applies once before
   rendering, so markers, cards, the heatmap, context and the top-fires query
   agree; share links keep it (`w` token: `f`, `c`), and `get_active_fires`
   takes matching `min_frp_mw` and `confidence` arguments. Default 0 MW / All
diff --git a/docs/CURRENT-STATE.md b/docs/CURRENT-STATE.md
index 84325e63d..934376fc7 100644
--- a/docs/CURRENT-STATE.md
+++ b/docs/CURRENT-STATE.md
@@ -2205,7 +2205,7 @@ none is a cold hue, so the brightest marks are the strongest fires; ~90% of
 detections are under 20 MW and stay dim red. Glow sprites and fire-card
 accents read that ramp; confidence and brightness do not affect the color.
 
-At far zoom (camera above ~3,000 km) the layer drapes a Snap Map–style
+At far zoom (camera above ~4,500 km) the layer drapes a Snap Map–style
 heatmap instead of individual markers: the shown detections are linearly binned
 (each detection's weight shared between the four nearest pixel centres, so spots
 sit at the true position and stay round) on a
@@ -2221,14 +2221,15 @@ nothing burns (`src/data/firmsHeatRaster.js`). It is one full-globe imagery
 tile on the active imagery host (`src/layers/firms/heatImagery.js`), rebuilt
 on each data refresh or filter change (the first far-band paint at once,
 later ones 150 ms after the last change). Heatmap and markers are both kept
-built at every zoom and cross-fade by camera height between 2,400 and
-3,600 km, every frame, so a fast zoom never shows a gap: the heatmap fades by
+built at every zoom and cross-fade by camera height between 3,600 and
+5,400 km, every frame, so a fast zoom never shows a gap: the heatmap fades by
 imagery `alpha` (a hidden Cesium imagery layer is unmapped from the globe
 tiles and re-mapped late when shown), the markers by sprite alpha, and the
-marker collection is hidden once the heatmap is whole. The 750–3,000 km
-markers band draws up to 20,000 detections (the strongest in the padded
+marker collection is hidden once the heatmap is whole. The 750–4,500 km
+markers band draws up to 40,000 detections (the strongest in the padded
 view), so the weak fires the heatmap shows stay on screen as markers when it
-fades out. "N FIRES" cards from a 2° / 1° aggregation still label the hottest
+fades out; it reads each marker's already-built anchor instead of the ground
+floor cache, which only the close band warms. "N FIRES" cards from a 2° / 1° aggregation still label the hottest
 areas; their accent is the strongest fire's FRP color.
 
 The Active Fires row carries a "Fire intensity (FRP)" slider on a log scale
diff --git a/src/data/firmsInteraction.test.mjs b/src/data/firmsInteraction.test.mjs
index fddf82f49..8e12a435d 100644
--- a/src/data/firmsInteraction.test.mjs
+++ b/src/data/firmsInteraction.test.mjs
@@ -521,7 +521,7 @@ test('far zoom drapes one heatmap and the hand-off cross-fades it with the marke
     assert.equal(markers.get(0).color.alpha, 1);
 
     // Mid hand-off both are drawn, half each, in either band.
-    setHeight(3_000_000);
+    setHeight(4_500_000);
     h.layer._applyHandoffFadeForTest();
     assert.equal(added[0].alpha, 0.5);
     assert.equal(markers.show, true);
diff --git a/src/layers/firms/model.js b/src/layers/firms/model.js
index aefb94b21..812f4f462 100644
--- a/src/layers/firms/model.js
+++ b/src/layers/firms/model.js
@@ -231,6 +231,19 @@ export function createModel({
     return fire.position;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * The anchor already built for a detection, without the floor lookup;
+   * for the far marker band, where floors are never warmed and the height
+   * difference is invisible, so tens of thousands of markers skip a cache
+   * read each per rebuild. Builds one through {@link firePosition} once.
+   * @param {Object} fire - Detection record.
+   * @returns {Cesium.Cartesian3}
+   */
+
+  function fireBuiltPosition(fire) {
+    return fire.position ?? firePosition(fire);
+  }
+
   /**
    * Occlusion-test anchor for one detection. Returns the render position
    * outright for anchors comfortably above the ellipsoid (the common case) and
@@ -238,11 +251,11 @@ export function createModel({
    * NEVER feeds rendering: the datum-correct anchor from {@link firePosition}
    * is what the sprite and the card are drawn at.
    * @param {Object} fire - Detection record.
+   * @param {Cesium.Cartesian3} [position] Its render anchor, if at hand.
    * @returns {Cesium.Cartesian3}
    */
 
-  function fireCullPosition(fire) {
-    const position = firePosition(fire);
+  function fireCullPosition(fire, position = firePosition(fire)) {
     if (fire.positionHeight >= CULL_LIFT_THRESHOLD_M) return position;
     if (!fire.cullPosition) {
       fire.cullPosition = Cesium.Cartesian3.fromDegrees(
@@ -587,6 +600,7 @@ export function createModel({
     sizeBucket,
     glowSprite,
     firePosition,
+    fireBuiltPosition,
     fireCullPosition,
     cellCullPosition,
     applyHorizonCull,
diff --git a/src/layers/firms/policy.js b/src/layers/firms/policy.js
index 8431655bd..e6f4bd664 100644
--- a/src/layers/firms/policy.js
+++ b/src/layers/firms/policy.js
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import * as Cesium from 'cesium';
 export const REFRESH_INTERVAL_MS = 600_000;
 
 /**
- * LOD bands keyed by camera height. `heat` bands (above ~3,000 km) drape a
+ * LOD bands keyed by camera height. `heat` bands (above ~4,500 km) drape a
  * Snap Map–style heatmap over the globe (firmsHeatRaster.js); their
  * `gridDegrees` aggregation only feeds the "N FIRES" cards. `detections`
  * bands render individual fire detections as glow-sprite billboards.
@@ -26,21 +26,21 @@ export const LOD_LEVELS = [
   },
   {
     id: 'regional',
-    minHeight: 3000000,
+    minHeight: 4500000,
     mode: 'heat',
     gridDegrees: 1.0,
     maxCells: 3600,
     labelDistance: 8500000,
   },
   {
-    // Up to 20,000 markers: at the 2,400 km end of the hand-off the padded
-    // view over Africa, the densest region, holds ~21,000 detections, and a
+    // Up to 40,000 markers: at the 3,600 km end of the hand-off the padded
+    // view over Africa, the densest region, holds ~40,000 detections, and a
     // tighter cap left the heatmap's weak spots dissolving into nothing.
     // A rebuild of that many costs ~60 ms, only there.
     id: 'local',
     minHeight: 750000,
     mode: 'detections',
-    maxDetections: 20000,
+    maxDetections: 40000,
     labelDistance: 4500000,
   },
   {
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ export const LOD_LEVELS = [
 /**
  * Global heat raster for the `heat` bands: ≈0.09° (≈10 km) per pixel and a
  * one-pixel Gaussian σ, so a lone fire is a spot about the size of its
- * marker at the 3,000 km hand-off and the two cross-fade without a jump;
+ * marker near the hand-off and the two cross-fade without a jump;
  * neighbours merge only when they nearly touch (σ 3 on a 2048 grid smeared
  * each fire over ~200 km). Built once per data refresh or filter change,
  * never per camera move.
@@ -69,12 +69,12 @@ export const HEAT_RASTER = Object.freeze({
 
 /**
  * Camera heights, in metres, over which the heatmap and the markers
- * cross-fade around the 3,000 km band edge: markers alone below `from`,
+ * cross-fade around the 4,500 km band edge: markers alone below `from`,
  * heatmap alone above `to`. Wider than the ±10 % band hysteresis, so
  * whichever band is active inside it, both layers are already built.
  */
 
-export const HANDOFF_FADE = Object.freeze({ from: 2_400_000, to: 3_600_000 });
+export const HANDOFF_FADE = Object.freeze({ from: 3_600_000, to: 5_400_000 });
 
 /**
  * Trailing delay before a stale heatmap is rebuilt while one is already on
diff --git a/src/layers/firms/rendering.js b/src/layers/firms/rendering.js
index d6e8b2d3b..9718470f8 100644
--- a/src/layers/firms/rendering.js
+++ b/src/layers/firms/rendering.js
@@ -354,10 +354,15 @@ export function createRendering({
     }
 
     const markers = [];
+    // Only the close band warms terrain floors (renderDetections).
+    const anchor =
+      lod.id === 'close'
+        ? components.model.firePosition
+        : components.model.fireBuiltPosition;
     for (const fire of candidates) {
       const coreSize = components.model.frpPixelSize(fire.frp);
-      const position = components.model.firePosition(fire);
-      const cullPosition = components.model.fireCullPosition(fire);
+      const position = anchor(fire);
+      const cullPosition = components.model.fireCullPosition(fire, position);
       const pickId = `firms-${fire.index}`;
       layerState._pickIndexById.set(pickId, fire);
       layerState._cullPositions.push(cullPosition);