diff --git a/bin/varnishd/cache/cache_vcl.c b/bin/varnishd/cache/cache_vcl.c
index 29d4b459fee..90e41ece8f1 100644
--- a/bin/varnishd/cache/cache_vcl.c
+++ b/bin/varnishd/cache/cache_vcl.c
@@ -594,9 +594,9 @@ vcl_set_state(struct vcl *vcl, const char *state, struct vsb **msg)
 		if (vcl->busy == 0 && vcl->temp->is_warm) {
 			vcl->temp = VTAILQ_EMPTY(&vcl->ref_list) ?
 			    VCL_TEMP_COLD : VCL_TEMP_COOLING;
+			vcl_BackendEvent(vcl, VCL_EVENT_COLD);
 			AZ(vcl_send_event(vcl, VCL_EVENT_COLD, msg));
 			AZ(*msg);
-			vcl_BackendEvent(vcl, VCL_EVENT_COLD);
 		}
 		else if (vcl->busy)
 			vcl->temp = VCL_TEMP_BUSY;
diff --git a/include/vrt.h b/include/vrt.h
index 2a478b37249..f5ea03bc5b9 100644
--- a/include/vrt.h
+++ b/include/vrt.h
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@
  *
  * NEXT (2024-03-15)
  *	[cache.h] (struct req).filter_list renamed to vdp_filter_list
+ *	order of vcl/vmod and director COLD events reversed to directors first
  * 18.1 (2023-12-05)
  *	vbf_objiterate() implementation changed #4013
  * 18.0 (2023-09-15)