Recently promoted to the position of A/C field supervisor, José Umana is a 16-year veteran of our service team.

José has handled a lot of no-heat emergency calls during his years as an on-call service technician, and while it may be tough to be working while most Long Islanders are sleeping, the rewards make it all worthwhile.

“When an elderly person has been shivering and thanks me for being there to get the heat back, I forget that it’s two in the morning. It makes me feel good about what I do,” says José, who is a native of El Salvador.

“When I started here all those years ago, I didn’t have much experience. But Burt’s gave me a chance, and they told me, ‘as long as you want to work hard, we’re going to help you in any way possible.’ They sent me to air conditioning and heating classes and paid for it all. And I learned even more by working side by side with their most experienced service technicians. By far, this is the best job I’ve ever had.”