JEANERETTE, La. (KLFY)- Sherry Landry joined the Jeanerette Fire Department as a volunteer in 2013.

Seven years later, she made history as the city’s first female fire chief.

Landry says when she initially joined the city’s team of firefighters, she never expected to love it so much.

“Once I got my own set of gear and I was able to get my hands on that hose and experience the adrenal rush, it was non-stop from there,” Chief Landry said.

She definitely didn’t expect to become Jeanerette’s first female fire chief just five years into the job.

It was a scary transition but one she decided to embrace with both arms wide open.

“Nervousness is good, but don’t let it scare you. Push forward. Go with it,” she said.

Today, Landry is one of 19 firefighters at the Jeanerette Fire Department and the only woman battling the flames. That didn’t stop her then, however, and it won’t stop her now.

“When you get called to an emergency scene and you have these parents are running up to you with their child in their hands, asking for help, it’s intense,” Landry said. “It’s intense and it just makes it all worth the while. you know that you’re there for them when they need you the most.”

Landry says helping people is her passion and her gender has nothing to do with her ability to do just that.

“Oh I’m happy. This is this is what I was meant to do. This is what I was meant to do. I was meant to be here, taking care of my community that I grew up in. I’ve been here my whole life. this is what I was meant to do.”

It’s a calling she wouldn’t have realized if she hadn’t taken a leap of faith and she encourages others to do the same.

“Don’t let it stop you. Go with it. Keep going,” the fire chief said.