Colorado resident Karl Dukstein owns one of the 29 homes destroyed in last year's Alexander Mountain fire that burned nearly 10,000 acres. This weekend, he visited the property for the first time since October.

Dukstein and his wife had plans to retire at their home on Storm Mountain. It was built by hand by a neighbor and can never quite be replaced. Concrete pieces and old photos are now all that remain.

"Coming back and just seeing this total destruction, I mean, it's hard," said Dukstein. "You get a place you plan to retire and spend out your life up in the mountains. It's a punch in the gut."

Saturday, volunteers used it as a home base for their recovery efforts, mostly removing trees near homes so construction crews can rebuild.

Dave Hoffman lives nearby and has volunteered to lead the area's fire recovery group. Saturday, he also invited community leaders to talk about opportunities to collaborate to rebuild from and mitigate fires. He came up with some ideas of his own.

With names like "Mr. Sticky", which is a hydroseed machine, and "Dr. Drench", a rooftop sprinkler, the devices he built in his barn are both memorable and potentially lifesaving.

Hoffman explained that they have to purchase a costly type of seed to grow new grass at high altitude, however, turkeys eat the seed before it's able to take root. That's why he invited a hydro machine that will push the seed out with water, preventing the turkeys from eating it.

"You can see, not only did it burn the tree, the ground is so dead that it cannot regrow. It can't regrow the grass in a very quick period of time," said Hoffman. "So we need to hydroseed these small areas so that they'll grow in naturally."

"Dr. Drench," on the other hand, would help extinguish embers to prevent them from catching a home on fire. 

"We're trying to get a bunch of us to work together on bringing it to homeowners," said Hoffman. "And we don't want to license it or anything else. We want people to be able to do it." 

"Dave, he's been a drum," said Dukstein. "He is the driving force pulling people in to help. I mean, just, it's pretty amazing."

For Dukestein, he's an example of how selfless and united the Storm Mountain community is as they continue to rebuild.

"The community spirit up here is pretty strong, and when you see the community get together and help each other, that's precious," said Dukestein.