David Elliot, the embattled emergency services minister who drew furious criticism for his decision to take a European holiday amid a horror fire season, has declared he will not resign.

"I came back to step up, not step down," Mr Elliott said on Saturday morning after arriving home overnight from London, where he had planned to take a long-delayed trip with his family.

David Elliott said his absence was "inexcusable" in a Facebook post shortly after his arrival. "I should have put my RFS family first and foremost given the current conditions."

NSW Emergency Services Minister David Elliott walks with Premier Gladys Berejiklian at RFS headquarters in Sydney. Credit:AAP

Even Mr Elliott's own family acknowledged that he should not have gone overseas when the fires were predicted to be so bad, the minister said.