Leadership roles and responsibilities in a volunteer fire department are no different from those of a full-time, paid, career department. Yet volunteer fire officers and fire chiefs have the added challenge of leading unpaid volunteers in an organization that typically has few resources to invest in formal leadership development. In the absence of these resources, volunteer fire departments must find innovative ways to attract and develop strong leaders to assume these roles as they become available. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand how fire officers and fire chiefs in a volunteer fire department describe their formal and informal leadership development experiences with a focus on how social learning influenced the development of their individual leadership style. Using a combination of direct observations, in-person interviews, and document reviews, I found that fire officers and fire chiefs were often promoted to leadership roles out of organizational necessity rather than through deliberate succession planning. I also found that social learning was a predominant source of attaining leadership skills and developing individual leadership styles. The implication of this study is that, as volunteer firefighters are thrust into higher leadership roles, they will use their observations of higher-ranking officers to imitate leadership behaviors that are perceived positively and to avoid leadership behaviors that are perceived negatively. Recommendations include investigating the application of a structured career development plan and introducing positive leadership behavior modeling into the day-to-day activities of the volunteer fire department. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]