As the fire burned, users posted photos of the scene to the site and updates were sent out via Indico's Twitter account.
The excitement on Hodgson's face as events unfolded on her laptop screen was palpable: real-time reporting of a live news event, pulling together different media and different outlets - what the site was built to do.
The concept of on the ground is at the heart of the site that allows users to post 'reports' on news events, which are local or of importance to them, Hodgson, a former travel journalist, tells Journalism.co.uk in a telephone interview.
"When I was a travel writer, I realised that what I was seeing on the ground and in the press were two completely different things. I was shocked at the difference," she says.
This experience sparked her belief in news emerging from networks: "We were always told that news is from the top down and that news is what other people tell us. It was quite a liberating thought that I didn't need anyone to give me permission to do this [set up the site]. Stories start with people."
The site was launched in private beta in 2008 - it took time for the right technology to emerge to build the kind of site and company she wanted, says Hodgson.
Investment behind the scenes has been extremely important, in particular in emerging technologies. The site is scheduled for a full facelift next month and is built using Pylons, an extremely flexible web development system.
"It's remarkable what you can do with a good idea and a good developer," says Hodgson, whose brother, a Microsoft executive, has been involved as a silent backer from the start.
The team, which already includes three developers from the University of Kent, is already looking to expand its ranks in the coming months. Coding for future developments, such as a new user rating system, will be developed in-house and is likely to be released as open source.
"On the technology side we know that we're quite an interesting proposition," she adds.
A new model - for reporting and business
But it is not just the technological development that Hodgson sees as differentiating Indico News from the vast number of user-generated news sites.
Three features - setting assignments for another user; 'interview me', where the site will match up users' questions with an expert to answer them; and the ability to tip off contributors about local events they might want to cover - set the site apart from other citizen journalism efforts, according to Hodgson.
A payment system for contributors is also being developed, offering a percentage of the ad revenue generated by any content next to a user's byline.
The details of the reward system are yet to be finalised, but users will have to reach a certain level of participation to qualify. But Hodgson stresses that this level will not be prohibitive - it's fair to pay users who supply content and the site wants to do this paying users adds to their responsibility, she says.
Community editors will oversee the payment system and these roles will be introduced in March next year.
"Financial rewards aren't the be all and end all - some people are very passionate about their community. But I don't think it's unreasonable to offer and the reward will be a fairly high percentage," she says.
But it is the 'eight commercial models' that she refers to - without giving her company secrets away - that are even more significant than the three-pronged approach to newsgathering and could differentiate the site from both cit-j and professional stablemates.
Within 18 months time, six will already be in place - a mixed revenue model is needed and the site has learned from traditional media's experiences trying to move the ad-based model online. Relying on online advertising alone to support Indico News won't work, says Hodgson, not to build the kind of company she wants to set up.
Collaboration
Developing multiple sources of revenue is not the only way the site is planning to break away from old news and journalistic models.
Indico News is, for example, planning to collaborate with other independent media groups, for example helping to organise 'outreach days' for local news media to help them better understand what their communities want and understand by 'news'.
"It's taking responsibility of what we are trying to achieve. Rather than saying we are just going to shove it out there and see what happens," she says.
To help contributors on the site with filing 'reports,' a wiki of tools and tips is also being built, focusing on free online resources.
"People are getting on and doing stuff because there's a passion about news and a passion about journalism and a passion about the community," explains Hodgson.
"There are opportunities here for organisations to get themselves out there to collaborate with other people that aren't part of 'the big team'."
But she does hope the site will act as bridge between hyperlocal reporting produced by individuals and the mainstream media.
Just as established media can be viewed as 'the big team' Hodgson does not want the same sense of an elite to build up amongst Indico News' community of users: "We don't want it to become a club, which is why we are very keen to open it up to mainstream media to look at ways that they can use it.
"In the same sense that we want it open to everyone, we want it to be used by everyone.
"Mainstream media hasn't quite got a grasp of what individuals an bloggers can actually do. I don't think it's very helpful to think, that you are doing this and we are trying that and we shall never mix.
"Mainstream media has the expertise; journalists are trained for a reason. But bloggers are immensely important in our world, because they do the challenging."
Analytics for Indico News suggest it is building a committed following of just such enthusiastic individuals - a user spends an average of 17 minutes on the site.
Building on this with the addition of a reliability system, the financial rewards for bloggers and new features to tap into a passionate audience of contributors, Hodgson hopes the site can offer news from different perspectives - particularly from a local level - as an original source and aggregator.
"News comes from different perspectives. It's something that we are very keen to work on right no. we are not talking about truths," she says.
"Everywhere news is on the local level and people are the news."
Finance reporter - property
