According to one of my teachers who is also a firefighter, the 'jaws of life' aren't really a big deal anymore. They're used in a lot of car accidents so I don't think this is as serious as it seems, but it could still be a big deal.
That's not surprising since the "jaws of life" aren't like some super-item in an RPG that you save because you can only use it once or whatever, they can be reused pretty easily. The only real issue is if one system is in use it can't be used elsewhere at the same time but the odds of that being required isn't all that high, and since even in a "mild" accident they're much safer than most methods of extracting a victim, it only makes sense.