Lava as familiar from cartoons, and the image of what the report was trying to conjure is red/yellow from its thermal emission. That requires at least 1000 C.
Yes, you can get lava with some composition that flows at 700C, but it's not going to put on much of a show.
How hot it is matters, as the energy coming out of the titanium box and shining around the avionics bay goes as the fourth power of it, given that the battery almost fills the box.
The reporters might be interested in the temperature inside a wood burning stove if they want a scary household equivalent, or the temperatures inside the engines. Granted, those things were designed to get that hot.