NSW Emergency services minister David Elliott will return to Sydney on Friday morning after cutting short his European holiday after fires devastated parts of NSW.

Mr Elliott left for London earlier this week for a holiday with his wife, vowing to return if the bushfire threat worsened. He will return to Sydney ahead of Saturday's dire conditions.

Several of Mr Elliott's colleagues criticised him for leaving the country during an emergency but the acting emergency services minister Anthony Roberts defended his colleague.

Emergency services minister David Elliott will cut short his European holiday. Credit:AAP

“David’s been on the line for about 112 days before he took his family away for a holiday that he'd already postponed a number of times," Mr Roberts said on Thursday.

"He's had the death of his father this year and of his wife's father, it's been a very difficult year for him. We have a very clear chain of command, we have the Premier, the minister and the commissioner."

Mr Roberts said the "the operational side of things doesn't stop because there's a different minister."

"Just as we rotate people out of the field it's important that we quite often rotate the ministers," Mr Roberts said.