OMG! You talked to my elementary school teacher!? She told me that exact thing… No wonder I always wanted to be an engineer! Now I feel like a wasted life.. I missed my calling! (…staring out the window…)
As for lava flows… Ain’t no extinguisher big enough! This is what the power company tried to do to save a power pole:
The Result:

Janet Babb, a spokeswoman from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, points to a power pole that was destroyed by lava flow from the Kilauea volcano, while lava upslope creeps towards the village of Pahoa on Hawaii’s Big Island December 8, 2014. REUTERS/Karin Stanton