Kim Valenti makes sure bird is safe before fleeing apartment LYNN, Mass., March 26 (UPI) -- A Massachusetts woman said her only thought when her apartment building caught fire was the safety of her blue-and-gold macaw. Kim Valenti, 55, said her Lynn apartment filled with thick black smoke Sunday night, so she grabbed her bird, Luca, wrapped the bird in a blanket and placed it in a laundry basket that she handed to her adult son, who carried the basket down the fire escape, the Boston Herald reported Tuesday. "I sacrificed (time)," Valenti said. I put her in my arms, wrapped a blanket around her and got her out. Valenti said she was heartbroken to learn she wouldn't be able to take 11-year-old Luca to the shelter with her. "We've been together for 9 years," she said at the North Shore Animal Hospital, where Luca is staying. And this is the first time we're gonna be apart. Valenti, who said she feels like a "nervous mother" being away from the bird, said Luca has the mental capacity of a toddler and the appetite of a full-grown human. "She drinks her coffee every morning but she doesn't like it black, she likes cream and sugar," Valenti said.