diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 9608abd..abd52ec 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 # fireSense_ignitionPredict (development version)
 
+- Ignitions are placed on fine pixels with one `split()` of the candidate pixels and a pixelID-to-row lookup, instead of two scans of the whole fine-pixel table for every ignited coarse pixel (about 3 s a year at 1.3M flammable fine pixels). The same draws are made in the same order, so ignitions, escapes and the random number stream are unchanged.
+
 # fireSense_ignitionPredict 1.2.0
 
 This release fixes two errors that changed how many fires the module predicted. Weather and landscape conditions are now compared against the conditions the model was fitted on; before, each year was compared only with itself, so every year looked average to the model and hot or dry years did not stand out. And when several fires started in the same area, the module could count more escaped fires than actually escaped; each escape is now counted once. Results will differ from earlier versions, and should be more realistic.
diff --git a/fireSense_ignitionPredict.R b/fireSense_ignitionPredict.R
index 7649fd4..f5560dc 100644
--- a/fireSense_ignitionPredict.R
+++ b/fireSense_ignitionPredict.R
@@ -193,17 +193,7 @@ IgnitionPredictRun <- function(sim) {
   # randomly sample
   # use unique because of multiple pixelID per chunkyPixel
   drawTable <- unique(igs[ignitions > 0, .(chunkyPixels, ignitions, escapes)])
-  pixelID_igs <- lapply(drawTable$chunkyPixels,
-                        FUN = function(n, draw = drawTable, ig = igs) {
-                          sampledChunk <- draw[chunkyPixels == n]
-                          pixelID_pop <- igs[chunkyPixels == sampledChunk$chunkyPixels]
-                          drawn <- sample(pixelID_pop$pixelID, size = sampledChunk$ignitions)
-                          igPixels <- try(ig[pixelID %in% drawn, .(pixelID, igProb, ignitions, escapeProb, escapes,
-                                                                   chunkyPixels)])
-                          return(igPixels)
-                        }
-  ) |>
-    rbindlist() #will this fail with zero ignitions?
+  pixelID_igs <- placeIgnitions(igs, drawTable)
 
   #for posterior analysis
   igProbRas <- rast(sim$ignitionFitRTM)
@@ -341,3 +331,35 @@ fineCoarseTable <- function(map, fine) {
   keep <- which(!is.na(map) & !(!is.na(flam) & flam != 1))
   data.table(pixelID = keep, chunkyPixels = map[keep])
 }
+
+#' Place each coarse pixel's ignitions on its fine pixels
+#'
+#' For each row of `drawTable`, draws `ignitions` of the fine pixels of that coarse pixel and returns
+#' their rows of `igs`, in `igs` row order. One `split()` of the candidate rows and a pixelID-to-row
+#' lookup replace a scan of all of `igs` for every ignited coarse pixel.
+#'
+#' The `sample()` calls are made in `drawTable` order, on the candidate `pixelID`s in `igs` order. This
+#' includes the `sample(x, size)` behaviour for a single candidate `x`, which draws from `1:x`; the
+#' pixels with those IDs are then returned, wherever they are. That quirk is kept so results do not change.
+#'
+#' @param igs `data.table` of fine pixels with `pixelID`, `igProb`, `ignitions`, `escapeProb`, `escapes`
+#'   and `chunkyPixels` (the coarse pixel).
+#' @param drawTable `data.table` with one row per ignited coarse pixel: `chunkyPixels`, `ignitions`.
+#'
+#' @return A `data.table` with the `igs` columns `pixelID`, `igProb`, `ignitions`, `escapeProb`,
+#'   `escapes`, `chunkyPixels`, for the drawn pixels.
+placeIgnitions <- function(igs, drawTable) {
+  sel <- which(igs$chunkyPixels %in% drawTable$chunkyPixels)
+  rowsByChunk <- split(sel, igs$chunkyPixels[sel])
+  rowOfPixel <- integer(max(igs$pixelID, 0L))
+  rowOfPixel[igs$pixelID] <- seq_len(nrow(igs))
+  cols <- c("pixelID", "igProb", "ignitions", "escapeProb", "escapes", "chunkyPixels")
+  out <- vector("list", nrow(drawTable))
+  for (i in seq_len(nrow(drawTable))) {
+    rows <- rowsByChunk[[as.character(drawTable$chunkyPixels[i])]]
+    drawn <- sample(igs$pixelID[rows], size = drawTable$ignitions[i])
+    hit <- rowOfPixel[drawn[drawn >= 1 & drawn <= length(rowOfPixel)]]
+    out[[i]] <- igs[sort(hit[hit > 0]), ..cols]
+  }
+  rbindlist(out)
+}
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-place-ignitions.R b/tests/testthat/test-place-ignitions.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..02aa656
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-place-ignitions.R
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+## Placing ignitions on fine pixels must give the same pixels and the same random stream as the
+## per-coarse-pixel scans of the whole fine-pixel table it replaced.
+
+## reference: the code before placeIgnitions() (kept here only to compare against)
+oldPlaceIgnitions <- function(igs, drawTable) {
+  lapply(drawTable$chunkyPixels,
+         FUN = function(n, draw = drawTable, ig = igs) {
+           sampledChunk <- draw[chunkyPixels == n]
+           pixelID_pop <- igs[chunkyPixels == sampledChunk$chunkyPixels]
+           drawn <- sample(pixelID_pop$pixelID, size = sampledChunk$ignitions)
+           ig[pixelID %in% drawn, .(pixelID, igProb, ignitions, escapeProb, escapes, chunkyPixels)]
+         }) |>
+    data.table::rbindlist()
+}
+
+## fine pixels (not in pixelID order, as after a join) of coarse pixels 1-6; coarse pixel `ignited` have
+## ignitions; coarse 3 has a single fine pixel, coarse 6 has none ignited
+toyIgs <- function(ignitions = c(`1` = 2L, `2` = 1L, `3` = 1L, `4` = 3L, `5` = 0L, `6` = 0L),
+                   ids = c(3L, 1L, 5L, 2L, 9L, 4L, 11L, 7L, 6L, 12L, 8L, 10L, 15L, 13L, 14L, 20L, 18L, 17L, 16L, 19L),
+                   chunk = c(1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6)) {
+  igs <- data.table::data.table(pixelID = ids, chunkyPixels = chunk)
+  igs[, `:=`(igProb = seq_len(.N) / 100, ignitions = ignitions[as.character(chunkyPixels)],
+             escapeProb = seq_len(.N) / 50, escapes = 1L)]
+  data.table::setcolorder(igs, c("pixelID", "igProb", "ignitions", "escapeProb", "escapes", "chunkyPixels"))
+  igs
+}
+drawTableOf <- function(igs) unique(igs[ignitions > 0, .(chunkyPixels, ignitions, escapes)])
+
+compareToOld <- function(igs, seed) {
+  drawTable <- drawTableOf(igs)
+  set.seed(seed); old <- oldPlaceIgnitions(igs, drawTable); seedOld <- .Random.seed
+  set.seed(seed); new <- placeIgnitions(igs, drawTable);    seedNew <- .Random.seed
+  expect_identical(new, old)
+  expect_identical(seedNew, seedOld)
+  invisible(new)
+}
+
+test_that("placeIgnitions gives the old ignitions and random stream, for several seeds", {
+  ## coarse 5 and 6 have no ignitions (no candidates drawn); coarse 3 has exactly one candidate but
+  ## here its pixel ID is 11, so the single-candidate draw is from 1:11 -- the old behaviour, kept
+  igs <- toyIgs()
+  for (seed in c(1, 2, 3, 42, 2024, 99999)) compareToOld(igs, seed)
+})
+
+test_that("coarse pixels with zero ignitions place nothing and use no random numbers", {
+  igs <- toyIgs(ignitions = c(`1` = 0L, `2` = 0L, `3` = 0L, `4` = 0L, `5` = 0L, `6` = 0L))
+  set.seed(5); before <- .Random.seed
+  res <- placeIgnitions(igs, drawTableOf(igs))
+  expect_identical(nrow(res), 0L)
+  expect_identical(.Random.seed, before)
+})
+
+test_that("a coarse pixel with one candidate keeps the sample(x, size) draw from 1:x", {
+  ## only coarse 3 is ignited; its one fine pixel has ID 11. The old code draws from 1:11
+  igs <- toyIgs(ignitions = c(`1` = 0L, `2` = 0L, `3` = 1L, `4` = 0L, `5` = 0L, `6` = 0L))
+  for (seed in 1:20) compareToOld(igs, seed)
+  ## an ID of 1 draws pixel 1 (from 1:1)
+  igs1 <- toyIgs(ignitions = c(`1` = 0L, `2` = 0L, `3` = 1L, `4` = 0L, `5` = 0L, `6` = 0L))
+  igs1[chunkyPixels == 3, pixelID := 1L]
+  igs1[pixelID == 1L & chunkyPixels != 3, pixelID := 21L]
+  for (seed in 1:5) compareToOld(igs1, seed)
+})