Richard Pehrson Ph.D. Professional Summary

Fire Scientist  .   Fire Protection Engineer  .   Fire Investigator

Pehrson Fire P.C. is in strategic alliance and provides services through Schroeder Fire

As a former Deputy State Fire Marshal with the Minnesota State Fire Marshal’s Office and a firefighter, Richard Pehrson has a thorough understanding of fire protection, fire investigation, building code requirements, and fire suppression systems. Before founding Pehrson Fire in 2008, his experience included five years with Futrell Fire Consult and Design, and prior to that he served with the Minnesota State Fire Marshal’s Office for nearly five years. A registered Fire Protection Engineer in Minnesota, Oklahoma, Arkansas and South Dakota, he earned a B.S. in Fire Protection from Oklahoma State University and both an M.S. and Ph.D. in Fire Protection Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). This gives Dr. Pehrson the scientific and technical qualifications to build upon his firsthand knowledge of fire.

As WPI’s first doctoral candidate in Fire Protection Engineering, Dr. Pehrson developed his Ph.D. research on “Modeling Fire Growth on Furniture through Computational Fluid Dynamics.” He was appointed as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Fire Protection Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, most recently teaching the distance learning failure analysis/fire investigation course in 2003.  In 2001 he was a visiting professor and taught the Enclosure Fire Dynamics course at the University of Lund, Sweden, where he supplemented his lectures using scale and full room enclosure fire experiments, fire modeling, and smoke control projects.

Honored for founding the WPI student-staffed fire station, Dr. Pehrson received commendation for the rescue of civilians trapped in a burning vehicle and is still an active firefighter today.  He is a member of the Salamander Fire Protection Engineering Society and belongs to numerous professional Fire Protection associations. Additionally, he is a principal member of the NFPA 13, Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems, Discharge Technical Committee and serves on the NFPA Toxicity Advisory Committee. He is a Certified Fire Investigator (CFI) and is a Hazardous Materials Technician accredited to 1910.120(q) HAZWOPER requirements, with current medical and respirator testing, which allows him access to active hazardous materials incidents.

Richard Pehrson, Ph.D.
Pehrson Fire P.C.
7455 France Avenue South Suite #271
Edina, MN 55435
612.590.5044