Fire Destroys Home of Reno Rapper Natalia Chacon, granddaughter of Arlan Melendez

GoFundMe launched to purchase a mobile home to place on the family’s lot

Fans and followers of Natalia Chacón began last week to share with one another the horrible news of what was happening to the local rapper.

Chacón, 20, who lived at 56 Reservation Road within jurisdiction of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony (RSIC) shared via an Instagram story videos of her childhood home which went up in flames on June 29. 

To add insult to injury, just three days prior on June 26, Chacón and her family laid to rest her grandfather, Arlan D. Melendez, the venerated former chairman of 23 years of the RSIC and Vietnam-era U.S. Marine Corps veteran. Melendez died on June 17 at the age of 78.

“It was gonna take us a long time to get over that and then like to be hit [with the house burning] … oh my god, it just gave us whiplash,” said Chacón about the impact to her family of these back-to-back losses.

Her brother Neiko, her sister Nyelly (a tattoo artist known locally as Koot$oo) and her partner, two friends of the family and herself used to live in the now uninhabitable and uninsured house, which had been her grandfather’s childhood home. The grandchildren are now scattered and living with another grandmother and their mother.

“Honestly, I’m thankful that [my grandfather] wasn’t here to see it. Because that was the house he grew up in, you know what I mean?” she said, adding that Melendez eventually moved down the street giving up the home to the next generation. “I’m glad that he wasn’t here to see. It’s all, like, very bittersweet.”

According to Chacón, in an effort to salvage belongings, firefighters could only save a few personal items including some photos and some articles of clothing from the house. She was extremely grateful to have found some of her granddads jewelry and his bow ties.

“Those were saved and those are super iconic,” she said. “If we were going to save something from him, I’m glad it was that.

During the incident, the family dog received some injuries, according to fire officials, and the house cat, named “Galleta” (ga-ye-ta) went missing and has yet to be found. 

Insofar as the investigation as to the causes of the evening fire, it’s still an open investigation according to Reno Fire Marshall John Beck. While there is a woman seen on the Instagram video dousing the house with water using a hose, it’s more likely that she was a neighbor according to authorities and not a person of interest. He further shared that the fire started on an exterior side wall of the house, possibly near some bushes, and rose up toward the attic. At the moment the cause does not appear intentional, according to Reno Fire. Beck shared that no ignition device was found on site.

Amidst the loss and grieving, her mom’s best friend, Charisse Abbie, created a GoFundMe page to seek support from the community to help the family eventually rebuild in the same spot.

This is when Chacón took to Instagram on July 2 to thank her community for coming together to help her and her family.

“She helped us with a lot of the funeral coordinating and all that as well, just because our family has been just, you know, going through the motions of grieving and all of that,” Chacón added. “Charisse was like, honestly, a big help to our family during the passing of my grandfather and during, after the fire as well.”

Chacón is thankful of how the community has her back and has responded to the online calls for help. She reflects back on the aftermath of the fire.

“I only had one pair of shoes and they were sandals. I only had one pair of pants and they’re sweatpants. Like I didn’t have anything appropriate to wear to work. Like I literally had nothing but what I had on that day,” she said. However, they now have bags of clothing that are being dropped off, some she believes are from her female fans. “I think a good amount of the donations we received did come from the post that I made. The support has been really, really, really, humbling and really, really, touching.”

Chacón is humbled by the support they’ve received so far; surprised that they even crossed the $10,000 mark. In addition to the funds – which will be used to purchase a temporary mobile home for the lot as they continue to work toward rebuilding – members of the community have dropped off clothing and personal hygiene products. 

“Aside from the GoFundMe, all we can do is, like, work for it,” Chacón said about the road ahead. “I work a full-time job. It’s kind of hard. I feel like if I had more free time, I could do like, oh, big sale, like an Indian taco sale. But right now, I feel I’m just going to be working and saving. That’s all any of us really can do, if I’m being honest.”As of publication, the fund had raised $11,460 of a desired $20,000 goal. To support the Melendez-Chacón family, please visit the website here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/fire-destroys-home-melendez-family-in-need.