How does a wet cloth really help (scientifically) to survive an airplane crash?

On Fri, 16 May 2014 23:16:38 -0800, Guv Bob wrote:

Logically, breathing through a wet cloth would also remove more particulate
matter than through a dry cloth. Try blowing cigarette smoke thru a dry
handkerchief and a wet one and you'll see a big difference.

I have no problem with the logic - but it may also be an urban myth.

What should we conclude from the fact that absolutely ZERO articles have been
posted to this thread coming from the FAA to the airplane manufacturers to the
airline-safety fire departments to the airline-safety research universities
which back up this hypothesis?

To repeat clearly, absolutely ZERO articles have been posted to this thread
that report that smoke particles are a life-threatening danger to your
breathing in an airplane cabin fire and that a wet towel can ameliorate
that danger.

The purpose of this thread is stated in the subject line:
How does a wet cloth really help (scientifically) to survive an airplane crash?

To be clear here, I'd be *glad* to believe that a wet cloth helps save your
life by filtering out particles, but it's hard to believe that supposition
when not a single one of us (me included) can find a single reliable industry
reference that says so.