By Amy Vellucci, The Union Leader
Original publication date: June 14, 2011

Brentwood, N.H. — Jack Dawson is a pretty cool kid who loves his Top 40 music. The 5-year-old Brentwood boy jams every chance he gets, so his parents didn’t think much of it when he was overheard singing “Fire Burning” by pop singer Sean Kingston. You know, it’s that hit song with the catchy lyrics, “Somebody call 911! Shawty fire burning on the dance floor.”

Jack had the popular song stuck in his head last Wednesday night, so while his mom was ironing and his dad, grandparents, sister and three brothers were busy, the little music lover picked up the phone and did exactly what the song told him to do: He called 911.

“He just dialed it and thought nothing of it,” said his mom, Kelly, who admitted that while her four older children understood the purpose of 911, Jack was still young and it hadn’t been explained to him yet.

When he realized someone was on the other end of the line, a puzzled Jack handed the phone to his 12-year-old sister, Kelsey, who promptly hung up.

Jack’s parents and the rest of the family quickly discovered his mistake, and moments later, the 911 operator called back to make sure everything was OK. That’s when Jack’s dad, Chris, got on the line and explained that the call was made in error and all was well.

“We knew exactly why he made the call,” Kelly said.

It was that song about 911.

Jack’s family had a little laugh over the honest mistake until about 15 minutes later when Brentwood police Sgt. Denny Wood arrived at the front door to check out a report of a 911 hang-up call. Wood said he was following standard protocol by following up on the call to make absolutely certain there was no problem.

“When the officer showed up we knew it was serious,” Kelly said. “My son was so scared and so afraid.”

Jack jumped up into his mothers arm’s as she explained to Wood that her son made the call because he had heard a song about 911.

“I didn’t even know what the name of it was,” Kelly said. “I just sang it to the cop.”

As soon as she sang the first few lyrics, Wood knew exactly which song had caused all the confusion.

“I’m into that genre of music and I knew right away,” Wood said with a laugh, adding that he has “Fire Burning” downloaded on his iPod.

“He was obviously very upset and didn’t realize he was doing anything wrong,” Wood said. “After hearing the story from the mother I explained to the boy that 911 is for emergency purposes and what he did was a mistake, but I told him that if he ever needed us again to call 911.”

Wood has responded to thousands of 911 hang-up calls in the years since 911 went into service in New Hampshire, but this was his first music-inspired call.

“I’ve never had an occasion to respond to one where a child was influenced by the radio,” he said.

Jack was too shy to talk about his mistake, but his mom said the family used it as a learning experience.

Kelly said Jack is her youngest child and she thought he was a little young for a lesson about 911.

“Who knows what the appropriate age is?” she said. “I guess you just have to talk to them about it.” 

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