Enable 'fill switchbar' in mirc options: display, move switchbar to the left or the right side, move the cursor over the switchbar and scroll with the mouse wheel. You can scroll until the switchbar is empty. I'm not sure if this is how it should be, 6.16 doesn't show that behaviour and there's no info about this 'feature' in versions.txt. This does not occur if the switchbar is in horizontal position (top/bottom).