Rechargeable electric tools meant to open mangled vehicles and free victims from car crashes will be replacing older gas-powered versions after final approval from the Ardmore City Commission on Monday.

“They’re battery operated just like any other hand tool that you would use — a little stronger battery — and they don’t require the cords and the reels for hydraulic hoses,” said John Henry, interim chief of the Ardmore Fire Department, immediately after Monday’s commission meeting.

The set of tools, worth $40,020, will replace aging and cumbersome equipment currently used by the department. Commissioners clarified that the existing tools, commonly referred to as “jaws of life,” will later be declared surplus.

The tools will be an important upgrade for the department that responds to several car crashes each day, according to Henry, and often requires access to the rechargeable items.

“We respond to, normally, several car wrecks a day and out of those car wrecks, you may use them once out of the two or three we have during the day,” Henry said.

Firefighters should be able to jump right into using the new tools once they arrive without any additional training.

“We have one other set of battery operated tools and its kind of familiar — different brand,” he said.

In other business, the Ardmore City Commission on Monday:

• appointed Christopher Greening and Pratima Patel to the Ardmore Tourism Authority to each serve three-year terms, and reappointed Steven Harris to a second three-year term;
• declared a prisoner cage and two license plate readers from the Ardmore Police Department as surplus;
• declared siren heads from Ardmore Emergency Management as surplus;
• approved a sublease agreement between the Ardmore Development Authority and Paul Brightwell for a box hangar at the Ardmore Industrial Airpark;
• recognized city finance director Sandy Doughty for receiving the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award, the highest award in governmental budgeting.