Is fire retardant safe?

EDITOR,
My wife and I slept with our bedroom window open during the first three nights of the Lockheed Fire, and in the morning, I woke up with progressive symptoms of a lower respiratory infection: a dry, ticklish throat causing me to cough, as well as some congestion. I quit smoking almost two years ago and have relatively good health for an active 59-year-old male.  
While the fire was well under control after eight days, with 80 percent containment as I write this, I can still see and smell smoke in the air, and I still have that dry, ticklish cough, along with lung congestion that is getting worse.
Surprisingly, it has come to my attention that many other people are also experiencing the same symptoms. Surely, all these people don’t have health issues making them sensitive to wildfire smoke? Or is eight days’ exposure to wildfire smoke enough to affect even healthy people?
Without pointing any fingers or apportioning any blame, I’ve started to wonder about the fire suppressants and retardants that the Cal Fire air tankers have dropped on the fire. There is already controversy about the safety of fire-retardant chemicals in our furniture and soft furnishings (drapes, curtains, etc.).
Even though the fire retardants in our furniture are different chemicals than those the tankers drop on wildfires, I’ve got to wonder, is that stuff really safe to breathe for days on end?
I think it is important to express my concerns about this matter, because it could be a major health issue (similar to spraying for the apple moths) that gets swept under the carpet when nobody is paying attention.
John Culloty, Ben Lomond