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Two incidents within a day of each other involving explosions caused by domestic gas cylinders have raised questions about the safety of equipment being promoted by the government to replace the use of kerosene.

As many as 30 houses in Pademangan, North Jakarta, burned down on Monday in a fire sparked by an exploding domestic gas cylinder. That incident came a day after a similar explosion in Duri Pulo, Central Jakarta, left two people injured.

“Of the 205 fires that occurred between January and April, 21 of them were caused by stoves,” Sukendar, an official at the city’s Fire and Disaster Mitigation Agency, told the Jakarta Globe on Monday.

In 2009, 89.5 percent of fires in the city were reportedly caused by “open flames,” with exploding gas cylinders at the top of the list, followed by cigarette butts, candles and mosquito coils.

Sukendar said investigations by the agency had found that in some instances gas regulators were not properly installed or that hoses connecting the gas cylinders and regulators were leaking.

“Sometimes the condition of the cylinders themselves was not up to standard. Perhaps they were not transported properly and fell from a height,” he said.

Paimin Napitupulu, head of the agency, said carelessness on the part of residents was to blame for some of the incidents involving gas cylinders.

“They failed to follow the proper safety guidelines when storing or operating the gas cylinders. However, there is also the possibility of low-quality products being prone to leaking and exploding,” he said.

Husna Zahir, chairwoman of the Indonesian Consumer Protection Foundation, refused to let the public take the blame.

“It’s easy to place all the blame on consumers, but the problem is the weak monitoring of the distribution of standardized components, meaning the gas cylinder, the hose and the regulator,” she said.

Husna also said a thorough investigation was needed.

“How is it that we still see unlicensed products being sold on the market? Who is responsible for monitoring? This is an important safety issue that can cost people’s lives and also cost them materially,” she said, adding that the government should not simply focus on meeting its target for the conversion from kerosene to liquefied petroleum gas.

The government wants residents to give up kerosene for the cheaper LPG so it can save money on fuel subsidies.

Basuki Trikora Putra, vice president for communications at state oil and gas company PT Pertamina, said the incidents involving the gas cylinders were outside his company’s responsibility.

“From our evaluation, most of the fires were caused by consumers’ carelessness in using the products,” he said. “I also believe that the Industry Ministry is responsible for the monitoring. People should not blame Pertamina. The conversion is a state program, which means a lot of people, including the consumers themselves, should take more precautions.”

Regarding the availability of unlicensed products, Basuki said that it was everybody’s responsibility to report such incidents so authorities could take action.