An investigation was immediately launched by state authorities, joined one month later by federal investigators. Investigators found indentations left on at least one door by people attempting to kick it down. There were concentrations of bodies around fire exits and inside a large walk-in freezer where panicked workers had sought shelter. Some sources thought they froze to death, in temperatures as low as , but the official report says they were killed by smoke infiltration around the improperly closed door. Twelve deaths occurred in the freezer. Five people survived there, but suffered injuries. Timothy Bradley, North Carolina's Deputy Commissioner of Insurance, said that "there was not a single door in the plant that met the criterion of a fire exit."