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

On Fri, 16 May 2014 04:00:28 +0000, Ann Marie Brest wrote:

I'm pretty surprised about those findings, but they in this article
specifically about guarding your airway during an airplane cabin fire.

This Airbus briefing discusses HOW to use the wet towels properly:
http://airbus.com/fileadmin/media_ga..._OPS-SEQ06.pdf

"Use wet towels, a wet cloth, or a head rest cover to reduce some of
the effects of smoke inhalation. Instruct passengers to hold the wet
towel/cloth over their noses and mouth and breathe through it."
..
This onboard emergency description mentions not to use ALCOHOL:
http://www.casa.gov.au/wcmswr/_asset...r/apr_fire.pdf

"To limit the effects of toxic fumes, a wet cloth should be
placed over your nose and mouth (a headrest cover or any other
available fabric is suitable). Use water, soft drink or other
non-alcoholic beverages to moisten the fabric."

Given that alcoholic drinks are almost all water anyway, I wonder
why they bothered to mention non-alcoholic drinks?

Does alcohol on the wet fabric do anything different with HCN?