The moving flames might also use all the oxygen in the area, which I understand can cause you to pass out for a while. (This is why you are advised, when wading into a watersource from a local fire, that you may pass out and drown when the oxygen in the air is depleted.)
Can you cite a source (sources)? I'm not trying to be antagonistic, but this is something I'd really like to learn more about. Your first safety zone in a wildland fire really is a body of water.