EXETER, N.H. – Opponents of Verizon Communications Inc.’s plan to sell its landline telephone business to Fairpoint Communications Inc. turned out in droves for a hearing by state regulators, questioning whether the smaller company could handle a crisis like last month’s floods.

Flooding at a Verizon switching station in Raymond knocked out landline service in that town and restricted customers in several surrounding towns to calling only within their own exchanges. Verizon sent managers and workers door-to-door to hand out cell phones for emergency use, but service was not restored to some customers for more than a week. Other Verizon customers around the state lost service when high winds brought trees down on lines.

Speakers at Tuesday night’s hearing said they doubted FairPoint, a company with far fewer employees and resources, could cope well under similar circumstances.

“There’s nothing scarier to the firefighters and paramedics in this state than to pick up a phone and hear nothing on the other end,” said David Lang, a 27-year veteran of the Hampton Fire Department.

Verizon announced in January it planned to sell its landline business in New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont to FairPoint, a rural telephone operator based in Charlotte, N.C., in a deal valued at about $2.72 billion.

Verizon employs more than 135,000 workers; FairPoint has about 900 but says it plans to hire another 600 people in the three northern New England states and honor all union and pension contracts. It also has pledged to expand broadband service more quickly.

Nearly 300 people attended Tuesday’s hearing, the third of five by the state Public Utilities Commission, which must sign off on the deal.