My favourite example of this kind of thing in a LucasArts game (or at least how they found their way around it) is the fire extinguisher in
Grim Fandango. They inserted a momentary, humourous cutscene in which Manny automatically picks up the required item if he doesn't already have it, ensuring that he has it later.
I'm sure that there must be a way to work acquiring the box of fuses into the game so that it has to have happened by the time the player reaches the situation in question
.
