Details of how the accident happened were also not immediately available.
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Another bulldozer operator escaped injury when the piece of equipment rolled over and sustained minor damage.
Firefighters got a break early Wednesday from cooler temperatures and increased humidity. It remained 10 percent contained late on Tuesday, authorities said.
“It is folly to predict where this fire will go”, California state parks spokesman Dennis Weber said. Search and rescue crews from the Monterey County Sheriff’s Department, along with the bulldozer operators, evacuated them to a campground.
Some 3,000 firefighters battling the so-called Sand Fire in the Angeles National Forest had extended containment lines around 40 percent of the 38,350-acre (15,520 hectare) blaze by Wednesday morning, according to fire information officer Sam Wu.
In Southern California, the fire in rugged wilderness between the northern edge of Los Angeles and the suburban city of Santa Clarita grew slightly to almost 60 square miles (154 square kilometers).
Pacific Coast Highway remained open Wednesday, but its signature views were marred by a dark haze.
The fire erupted Friday afternoon in Santa Clarita, about 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Eighteen homes have been destroyed.
About 300 miles (483 km) to the north, a smaller blaze dubbed the Soberanes Fire continued to threaten some 1,650 properties after destroying 20 homes on Sunday in an area between Big Sur and the scenic coastal town of Carmel-by-the-Sea, officials said.
The death occurred as firefighters worked around the clock against the blaze near a scenic stretch of the California coast, where smoke and the threat of flames forced the closure of state parks near Big Sur, a popular tourist area.
The park shutdowns came as a fire that started Friday just north of Big Sur grew Tuesday to almost 37 square miles (94 square kilometers) but was just 10 percent contained.
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A huge smoke and cloud formation is seen Tuesday, July 26, 2016, from the Van Nuys Airport as firefighters set backfires in the Angeles National Forest in their battle against the Sand Fire. At least 18 homes have been destroyed.
