Fire Satety Tips for Your Apartment Most home fires start at the stove. Here are a dozen tips recommended by our local fire department. 1. Check to see that your smoke alarm has a working battery. 2. Never leave stove lit when you leave the kitchen. 3. Avoid robes or clothes with flowing sleeves while cooking. 4. Do not stretch over a lit stove to reach an overhead cabinet. 5. Keep newspapers and paper towels far away from your stovetop. 6. Make sure Security has a key to your apartment. 7. Keep an approved fire extinguisher in your kitchen. 8. Make sure dishtowels and other flamables are well away from the stove. 9. Ensure oven mitts or potholders are dry. If wet, they won’t protect you from the heat and you may drop the pot or pan. 10. Smother oven or microwave fires by turning off the appliance and keeping the door closed. 11. Call Security if you hear a fire alarm in a neighboring apartment. 12. Always check to see that your stove and toaster oven are off before you leave your apartment. By FRED CHERNOW 6 North Shore Towers Courier n May 2013 BY MAGGIE HAYES Dominick Colella can do it all. In Building 3, he acts as concierge, doorman and porter, all while keeping a smile on his face. “If you take things too seriously, you get stressed out, you don’t have fun,” he said. “So long as I do my job correctly and efficiently, I never have a problem.” Colella has been at the Towers for nearly eight years. He started work as a porter, moved to the supply room and is now in Building 3. He works Tuesday through Saturday, tackling a different position each day. “The job is more exciting with something different every day,” he said. “I get to do a little bit of everything; I don’t fear the unknown.” The Brooklyn native, now living in Middle Village, said he likes all of the interaction he gets with a variety of people. “You meet people who were sports writers who interviewed Jackie Robinson, you meet Holocaust survivors,” he said. “There’s a lot of history here that you can’t learn in school. That’s what I find most interesting.” Before the Towers, Colella was a paralegal for 10 years, working in the senior position on a number of cases. After his firm went bankrupt and he heard about the North Shore Towers via the New York Times, he applied, interviewed and the rest is history. When Colella starts his days, he first opens up the lobby and preps to cater to residents’ needs. He turns on the televisions and computers, checks the mail room and elevators and awaits the first person who needs help. “It’s important to have everything open and ready to go,” he said. “If someone comes down in an emergency, we need to be here to assist them right away and have the tools to help them out.” All while taking every role seriously, Colella manages to keep things light and have fun. As well as socializing with residents, he enjoys maintaining friendly relationships with fellow staff members. “Everybody is fantastic,” he said. “I try to make it a nice, loose atmosphere, but I’m serious when it comes to my job.” Dominick Colella He Does It All! Dominick Colella
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