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Nikki Guidry (pictured) stands 5 feet, 5 inches tall (with shoes on, she says) and weighs a whopping 135 pounds, but make no mistake—this pint-sized firefighter can hang with the big boys.

In March, Nikki graduated No. 1 in her class at the St. George Firefighting Academy.

The five-month school was a physical and mental endurance test, she says. The 10- to 12-hour days began at 6:30 a.m. with grueling workouts.

There were tests just about every other day, 40 in all, plus seven state certifications each rookie firefighter had to pass.

Not everyone made it.

She thrived at hose drills, ladder drills and a host of other skills firefighters must master to successfully battle a burning building.

For the medical portion—all St. George firefighters have to become certified emergency medical technicians—she earned 100 out of a possible 102 points.

Of the three female firefighters at the St. George Fire Department, Guidry was the first to graduate at the top of her class, according to fire Chief Jerry Tarleton. By mid-April, she had already been to four fires. “My captain calls me smoke eater,” she says.

Her dad is veteran arson investigator Keith Constantino, a special agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

“I’m very proud of her, not only as a daughter, but also of her accomplishments as a wife, as a mother, and as a firefighter,” Constantino said.

“I think he wants me to follow in his footsteps and be an investigator,” Guidry says.

But for now she’s happy being a smoke eater.