Empire Challenge helps agencies practice collaboration

'Empire Challenge' hits the water in Youngstown

New York Naval Militia and New York Guard members conducted emergency response exercises Thursday on the lower Niagara River and Lake Ontario, alongside the Coast Guard and local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies.

Empire Challenge helps agencies practice collaboration

LEWISTON, N.Y. (WIVB) -- Local, state, and federal agencies are conducting emergency response exercises on the Niagara River and Lake Ontario on June 5 and 6 during the "Empire Challenge." The New York Naval Militia does these exercises typically once or twice a year in the Hudson River or at Seneca Lake -- however, this time, they chose to use the Niagara River and Lake Ontario. "Here you'll have several knots of water moving, you have the turb…