Mike Roark [Responding to a phone call on his private line]
Oh, that'll be my little girl wanting a tattoo.
Played by Tommy Lee Jones 
Volcano (1997) · 41 quotes
Volcano (1997) · 41 quotes
Most-quoted character in Volcano (1997): in 16 of its 41 quotes
Most scenes with: Amy Barnes (8), Emmit Reese (2), Rachel (2)
I enjoy motor sports, music and the company of close friends…sir.
More lines from Mike Roark
2 quotes Mike Roark Mike Roark We're going to put as many people in front of it as it takes. Listen up, people! Let me tell you what's south of us: no more museums, no more department stores, just homes! People! If we turn and run now, they're going to be defenseless! You don't like my plan? That's good. Give me another plan, but don't tell me we're backing out!
Scenes with Mike Roark
13 scenes Mike I can't leave you here after an earthquake.
Kelly Roark Why not? I'm 13 years old. I know what to do.
Mike OK. What do you do?
Kelly Get in the door frame, stick your head between your knees, and kiss your ass goodbye.
Mike If a dam breaks somewhere, the Mayor calls, I don't want you telling her Roark went fishing.
Look, see, the mayor's in Aspen, okay? We don't pull her off of the slopes for only a 4.9. Besides, I'd cover for you.
Mike I'm sure you would. You look very comfortable sitting behind my desk talking on my telephone.
Yeah, it's kinda like I belong there or something.
You're not happy unless you’re declaring an emergency, are you!
Mike No, actually I enjoy motor sports, music and the company of close friends…sir.
Stan Olber 30,000 people think they're taking the train home tonight. What am I supposed to do for them?
Mike Put on extra buses.
Stan It's his mess. Let him take the shit for it.
Chief Sindelar Tell him he's not in Kansas anymore.
You're not in Kansas anymore Mike.
Mike St. Louis, I'm not in St. Louis.
Sindelar I don't give a shit where's he's not! He has a desk now; that's where...
Sometimes magma can find one of those fissures and rise up through it.
Mike What's magma?
Lava.
Mike Lava? Right here in L.A?
It is one of the possibilities.
Mike We have a history of that here in the downtown area?
Parícutin...1943 a Mexican farmer sees smoke coming out of the middle of his cornfield. A week later there's a volcano a thousand feet high. There's no history of anything until it happens. Then there is.
Mike [Mike ordered 200 K-rails (freeway dividers) to redirect the lava.]
Where's the rest of 'em?
Truck driver
What "rest of 'em?" This is it!
Lt. Fox Hey, there only about eighty here!
Truck driver
Eighty-two; everything else is stuck on the 5 and the 10.
Lt. Fox We're trying to keep the city in one piece, pinhead. Eighty rails ain't gonna do it!
Truck driver
So what are you blaming me for?
Lt. Fox Convenience, ok?
[calling Roark on his phone]
How fast can you get to the corner of Wilshire and Western, we got a problem.
Mike No, no. Not anymore. We have it stopped.
The volume of ash coming down is way too high to think that we're out of danger.
Mike So, why did it just stop?
Well, maybe it didn't, maybe it just went someplace else.
Mike So, how do you know it didn't stop?
You know, I don't. But when Mount Saint Helens blew, the force was twenty seven thousand times greater then that of the Hiroshima bomb. Do you think that vent released anywhere near that much energy yet?
Mike No.
Well, lets just assume that we haven't seen the real bulk of the magma yet, okay? Trust me, get down here. [hangs up the phone] Shit.
Sometimes magma can find one of those fissures and rise up through it.
Mike What's magma?
Lava.
Mike Lava? Right here in L.A?
It is one of several possibilities. It is unlikely, but it is a possibility.
Mike We have a history of that here in the downtown area?
Parícutin...1943 a Mexican farmer sees smoke coming out of the middle of his cornfield. A week later there's a volcano a thousand feet high. There's no history of anything until it happens. Then there is.
God, this is so stupid. The city's finally paying for its arrogance.
Mike Which particular arrogance is that?
Building a subway under land that's seismically active.
Mike Yeah, it was a foolish man that built his house upon the sand.
Matthew 7:26. Favorite among geologists.
[calling Roark on his phone]
How fast can you get to the corner of Wilshire and Western, we got a problem.
Mike No, no. Not anymore. We have got it stopped.
The volume of ash coming down is way too high to think that we're out of danger.
Mike So, well how come it stopped?
Well, maybe it didn't, maybe it just went someplace else.
Mike So, how do you know it didn't stop?
You know, I don't. But when Mount Saint Helens blew, the force was 27,000 times greater then that of the Hiroshima bomb. Do you think that vent released anywhere near that much energy yet?
Mike No.
Well, lets just assume that we haven't seen the real bulk of the magma yet, okay? Trust me, get down here. [hangs up the phone] Shit.
Mike Roark The West Side, there's a million people!
There will be a million dead or homeless people if we don't evacuate! This is going to destroy everything it touches!
Mike Roark [Mike Roark has just overseen the flipping of a bus to at least stem the lava approaching down Wilshire]
All right we know that stuff is lava. What do we do next?
You have got to evacuate the West Side. This thing is going to burn through the city until it reaches the ocean.
Roark The West Side, it's a million people!
There will be a million dead or homeless people if we don't evacuate! This is going to destroy everything it touches!
Mike Roark [Roark breaks up an argument between the LA Fire Department chief and a DWP engineer on how to stop the lava flow]
Knock this shit off! What is with you people? Chief, how long will it take this stuff to get to Fairfax?
LAFD Chief
At this speed, it'll about ten minutes, give or take.
Roark Enough time to build a barricade? [everybody is blank] All right, look [flips map and starts drawing] Wilshire Boulevard, Fairfax. Eighty K-rails, double stacked in a horseshoe. OK? A cul-de-sac. That's gotta be a wall at least six feet high.
D'you have any helicopters, water tankers?
Roark Not yet, but they're on the way.
All right great. Once you get this lava to pool ok, dump everything you've got on it, all at once, try to form a crust. Maybe it'll dam itself, it's what they did in Iceland.
Roark [surprised at Amy's solution]
Thank you.
You're welcome.
DWP Official
This is like putting a Band-Aid on a broken leg.
LAPD Lt Ed Fox I don't know how many men we should keep putting in front of this thing.
Roark We're going to put as many people in front of it as it takes. Listen up, people! Let me tell you what's south of us: no more museums, no more department stores, just homes! People! If we turn and run now, they're gonna be defenseless! You don't like my plan? That's good. Give me another plan, but don't tell me we're backing out! Is everybody clear on that?
People
Yeah!
Roark All right, let's go. Build a wall! [everybody scrambles to work]
Other characters in Volcano
More Tommy Lee Jones characters
Agent K
Marshal Samuel Gerard
Major Chip Hazard
Harvey Dent/Two-Face
Samuel Gerard
Robert Dewey
Dwight McClusky
Ryan Gaerity