Almost six months ago, Jeanerette Volunteer Fire Department Interim Chief Sherry Landry made headlines as the first female chief the department has ever had. 

For Landry, working as interim fire chief has just meant fulfilling her regular duties, plus a few extra responsibilities. 

Landry, 37, has been a Jeanerette firefighter for the past four years. She first became interested in the occupation after her daughter was let into the explorer program and became a junior firefighter. 

“My daughter was a junior firefighter here,” Landry said. “She got into the explorer program and they became a family, like they say. Everybody’s a family when you get in the fire department. We had a birthday party and someone asked me to stop by and check it out. I’ve been doing it ever since.”

While she was admittedly nervous at first, Landry said she’s always had a passion for helping people, which translated easily into the jobs and duties of a firefighter. 

“I used to run from these things (fires),” she said with a laugh. “I’ve had to call into fires, so I never imagined I would be going in and become a firefighter. But people need help, and I’ve always liked helping people out. It’s just on a whole new level now.”

Although a fire department tends to be a male-dominated environment, Landry said she’s never had a problem with that. With one sister and two step-sisters, Landry said she was always the tomboy of her siblings. 

“I’m the oldest, I’ve always been a tomboyish person,” she said. “We didn’t have any boys so I was the one who was outside doing things with my dad.”

Born and raised in Jeanerette, Landry is a 1998 graduate of Jeanerette High School and has three daughters. 

Landry was appointed fire chief on an interim basis in July, and has headed the department in Jeanerette ever since. The Jeanerette Board of Aldermen are in the process of looking at applicants for the position, and Landry has filled one out herself. 

While working for the first three months as interim fire chief, Landry also was working her regular job as a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service. However, she was granted work on a fulltime basis at the department in late 2017, and has been there most days since. 

Landry said she works Monday through Fridays at the station, and will go out during the weekends if she gets a call. Saturday afternoon, Landry was returning from a tire fire. 

“It (being a fire chief) comes with a lot more responsibility,” she said. “Everybody here has made it a seamless transition. Everyone has been supportive, the guys and the girls. I know that when I get toned out, I have somebody who’s going to be there.”

Regardless of the hiring process of a new chief, Landry said she is committed to the Jeanerette Fire Department. 

“They can’t get rid of me that easy,” she said. 

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