diff --git a/gateway/platforms/api_server_fire_startup.py b/gateway/platforms/api_server_fire_startup.py
index 9041d070d3..788da19225 100644
--- a/gateway/platforms/api_server_fire_startup.py
+++ b/gateway/platforms/api_server_fire_startup.py
@@ -14,10 +14,10 @@ from typing import Any, Optional
 
 from aiohttp import web
 
-# How long a fire that lands during startup waits before it is refused as retryable. A cold boot
-# publishes its adapters within seconds; the bound keeps a gateway that never finishes starting from
-# holding the request open (NAS's callback timeout is 30s).
-FIRE_STARTUP_WAIT_SECONDS = 10.0
+# How long a fire that lands during startup waits before it is refused as retryable. Kept under the
+# dashboard forwarder's 10s timeout: past it NAS sees a 503 while this handler still runs the job, and
+# the retry would run it twice.
+FIRE_STARTUP_WAIT_SECONDS = 7.0
 _POLL_SECONDS = 0.1
 
 
@@ -25,12 +25,12 @@ async def refuse_until_started(runner: Any, job_id: str) -> Optional["web.Respon
     """None once ``runner`` has finished starting (``_running``: every platform connect attempted and its
     adapters published), or when there is no runner to ask (a self-hosted api_server, a test double).
     Otherwise the retryable 503, worded like the dashboard's own "gateway unreachable" so NAS classifies
-    it the same."""
+    it the same, with the dashboard's 60s Retry-After (``_CRON_FIRE_RETRY_AFTER_SECONDS``)."""
     loop = asyncio.get_running_loop()
     deadline = loop.time() + FIRE_STARTUP_WAIT_SECONDS
     while runner is not None and not getattr(runner, "_running", True):
         if loop.time() >= deadline:
             return web.json_response(
-                {"error": "gateway unreachable; retry", "job_id": job_id}, status=503, headers={"Retry-After": "2"})
+                {"error": "gateway unreachable; retry", "job_id": job_id}, status=503, headers={"Retry-After": "60"})
         await asyncio.sleep(_POLL_SECONDS)
     return None
diff --git a/tests/gateway/test_cron_fire_startup_gate.py b/tests/gateway/test_cron_fire_startup_gate.py
index 1d9ccb94ca..71e70941bf 100644
--- a/tests/gateway/test_cron_fire_startup_gate.py
+++ b/tests/gateway/test_cron_fire_startup_gate.py
@@ -98,7 +98,9 @@ async def test_fire_is_retryable_and_never_claimed_when_startup_does_not_finish(
 
     resp = await _post_fire(adapter, runner)
 
-    assert resp.status == 503
+    # NAS classifies this refusal by the exact body string and honours Retry-After.
+    assert resp.status == 503 and resp.headers["Retry-After"] == "60"
+    assert (await resp.json())["error"] == "gateway unreachable; retry"
     assert provider.claimed == [] and provider.fired == []  # nothing durably claimed for a fire we refused