German here: I think extinguish works very well in this case because it translates into a genernal "auslöschen" which is not limited to flames and fire, e.g. "D

German here: I think extinguish works very well in this case because it translates into a genernal "auslöschen" which is not limited to flames and fire, e.g. "Die Dinosaurier wurden durch den Einschlag eines riesigen Kometens ausgelöscht". I agree that it works better in German but it translates surprisingly well into English.