MERIDEN — A woman trying to collect old scrap metal with her boyfriend in the ravine behind Beseck Mountain was taken to Hartford Hospital with leg injuries after a falling rock pinned her against an old car.

Carol Bonaiuto, who lives at 70 Collindale Drive, said that just before 10 a.m. she and her husband, Lynwood, heard someone yelling for help. A man said there was a girl pinned by falling rocks. Lynwood Bonaiuto and City Councilor Brian Daniels, who lives nearby, tried to move the rock while firefighters were en route to the scene but couldn’t budge it, Carol Bonaiuto said.

“The rocks that are broken off; all the rubble as the bottom of the mountain ridge, it’s very loose. They are irregular shaped rocks, they can fall — it’s very rugged up there,” Fire Chief James Trainor said.

Trainor said the woman was pinned for about 30 minutes before crews could free her.

The woman and her boyfriend had approached some homeowners in the area about their idea to remove the old cars for scrap metal, Trainor said, which is what they were trying to do when the girl slipped and fell. A rock then fell onto her, pinning her legs against the car.

“She’s hurting, but the injuries appear to be non-life threatening,” Trainor said.

Trainor said when the call first came in, firefighters feared the worst. Beseck Mountain provides a spectacular view, and over the past couple of years, emergency crews have responded several times to falls from the top of the ridge.

It wasn’t clear from the original calls whether the woman had fallen from the ridge before becoming pinned by falling rocks, so firefighters called for the LifeStar helicopter to be on standby as they investigated. LifeStar was soon canceled as it became apparent the woman didn’t have life-threatening injuries, Trainor said.

Carol Bonaiuto said she has noticed fewer people hanging out by the ridges up above her home since all the attention regarding the falls in the past year.

“People don’t seem to understand how dangerous it is,” Carol Bonaiuto said of the ridge. “We hear rocks moving on that mountain all the time. When we heard them shouting [Friday], we didn’t know how bad it was.

“I’m glad she seems to be OK.”