Fyresdal

Fyresdal is a municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Vest-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Moland. Other villages in Fyresdal include Kilegrend, Øvre Birtedalen, and Øyane. The municipality is the 78th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Fyresdal is the 318th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,198. The municipality's population density is and its population has decreased by 10.3% over the previous 10-year period. The parish of Moland was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1879, the name of the municipality was changed to Fyresdal. The borders of the municipality have never changed, something which is pretty unusual in Norway. The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Moland farm (Mólanda) since the first Moland Church was built there. The first element is mór which means "moorland" or "heath". The last element is land which means "land" or "district". This name was in use until 1879 when the municipal name was changed to Fyresdal (Fyrisdalr), after the valley in which it is located. The first element of this name is the genitive case of the name of the local lake Fyresvatnet (Fyrir). The name of the lake is derived from the word fura which means "pine tree". The last element of the name is dalr which means "valley" or "dale". The coat of arms was granted on 24 April 1992. The official blazon is "Vert two bendwise axes argent in pale" (På grøn grunn to skråstilte sølv øksar). This means the arms have a green field (background) and the charge is a broadaxe. The broadaxes have a tincture of argent which means it is colored white most of the time, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The green color in the field and the broadaxe were chosen to symbolize the importance of forestry in the municipality. The arms were the result of a local competition, which resulted in 42 different proposals being submitted.